Port of Hamburg receives largest containership ever

The 20,170-TEU MOL Triumph docked at the HHLA Container Terminal Burchardkai (CTB) in the Port of Hamburg on Monday, making it the first vessel with capacity of more than 20,000 TEUs to ever call the German port.    The 20,170-TEU containership MOL Triumph called at the HHLA Container Terminal Burchardkai (CTB) at the Port of Hamburg on Monday, the German port said in a statement.
   The MOL Triumph is the first vessel with a loading capacity over 20,000 TEUs to dock at the Port of Hamburg. Roughly 10,000 TEUs in total will be loaded and unloaded at CTB before the vessel leaves, said the port.
   The vessel is one of the largest container ships in the world, with the newly-built Madrid Maersk and OOCL Hong Kong within the same tier.
   But ships of this size are still relatively new to the industry, even for MOL. Before the MOL Triumph, the Japanese ocean carrier’s biggest containerships had a capacity of some 14,000 TEUs.
   “So, this is naturally a quantum leap for us in terms of volume, challenging the whole organization.” said Jan Holst, director North Europe for Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL). “In Europe we have taken on staff in each port, 13 in Hamburg alone.”
   By contrast, ports on the U.S. East Coast recently received record containerships at roughly 13,000 TEUs. Terminals at those ports are currently not expecting enough demand to attract mega containerships, unlike their European counterparts. While port infrastructure is improving and ports are adapting to bigger vessels with more capacity, the average vessel size for most U.S. ports is between 8,000 TEUs and 14,000 TEUs.
   According to ocean carrier schedule and capacity database BlueWater Reporting, the MOL Triumph sails under THE Alliance’s FE2 service between China, the Mediterranean and North Europe.