Mumbai Maersk: Port of Felixstowe’s deepest ever container ship docks
A container ship set a new record this week for the deepest ever vessel to dock at the UK’s largest container port, Felixstowe.
The Mumbai Maersk entered the Hutchison-owned port on 11 November, with a draft of 16.8m. It departed some 24 hours later with a draft of 17m.
The record was set only four weeks after Felixstowe Port announced the completion of a £130m project aimed at deepening the approaches to the port and its main container berths. The works saw the depth of its approach channel increased from 14.5 to 16m.
The Mumbai Maersk has a capacity of 20,568 twenty foot equivalent units (TEU). Its journey began in Bremerhaven, Germany and will see the mammoth container line travel all the way to Tanjung Pelepas, in Malaysia.
Felixstowe is both the largest and busiest container port in the UK. It handles around 2,000 ships a year and can accommodate some of the biggest container ships operating globally today.
Robert Ashton, chief operating officer at Felixstowe Port, said: “There has been a steady increase in recent years in the number of the latest generation of mega-vessels serving the main shipping route into Europe.”
“The Port of Felixstowe is the best located UK port for these huge ships and, working with our partners at Harwich Haven Authority, we deepened the main approach channel and Berths eight and nine to cement further that advantage.”
Ashton added: “The deeper channel provides a level of access matched nowhere else in the country. It not only allows deeper vessels to call but also more ultra-large ships to be handled on each tide.”
Sarah West, chief executive of Harwich Haven Authority, which has responsibility for the main approach channel, said:
“The deepening of the approach channel was both a significant technical challenge and a major financial investment for the Authority.”
“Harwich Haven and the Port of Felixstowe are the main gateway for UK containerised trade and by working together we will ensure we continue to offer the right facilities and highest levels of service to our mutual customers.”