Largest container ship docks at APM Terminals New Jersey
APM Terminals' Port Elizabeth welcomed the Marco Polo - the largest container ship to call the US East Coast.
The port call was possible as APM Terminals invested in a deep water berth to accommodate such ultra-large ships.
Several ports at US East Coast
The Marco Polo is operated by the French shipping agency CMA CGM and can carry 16,022 TEU-containers. It arrived the in harbour of New Jersey on 20 May, completing a three-week journey from China through the Suez Canal. It is the largest container vessel to ever visit, or call, the East Coast of the US where it will dock at several ports.
The previous record for the APM Terminal Elizabeth was held by the 15,072 TEU CMA CGM Brazil which also called the terminal last September.
Upgraded infrastructure
‘Today’s port call was made possible by APM Terminals 200 million US dollar investment in port infrastructure that helped usher in the new era of larger ships calling the United States East Coast’, said Jon Poelma, Managing Director of APM Terminals Elizabeth, New Jersey.
The new berth can accommodate three Ultra-Large Container Ships (ULCS) simultaneously. The deep-water berth, dredged to 50 feet (15.2 meters) is also a key component of the necessary new infrastructure. Other terminal features include four new STS cranes, a new gate complex, and the refurbishment and removal of outdated terminal structures.
Heavier ship-to-shore cranes
APM Terminals Elizabeth launched a multi-year construction investment in 2017 to strengthen the berth area for the taller and heavier Ship-to-Shore (STS) cranes necessary to handle the larger vessels now calling the Port of New Jersey and New York.
The 350-acre APM Terminals Port Elizabeth facility is equipped with eight super Post-Panamax cranes (4 x 23-container wide reach, 4 x 21- container wide reach) and six Post-Panamax cranes with an 18-container wide reach.
More productive
APM Terminals’ Port Elizabeth facility is one of the largest container terminals in the Port of New Jersey and New York port complex, handling over 2,100 trucks a day, 4000 terminal gate transactions and more than 500 vessel calls per year. The terminal handled 1,777,711 TEUs in 2020.
‘Our goal is to make APM Terminals Port Elizabeth safer, more productive and easier to use for customers so they can compete at the peak of global shipping and logistics efficiency’, added Mr. Poelma.
