“K” Line takes delivery of ultra-large containership

The 14,000-TEU Milano Bridge will be deployed on “THE” Alliance’s MD2 loop between Asia and the Mediterranean.    Tokyo-based Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. (“K” Line) took delivery of the 14,000-TEU Milano Bridge at Imabari Shipbuilding Company’s Hiroshima Shipyard in Japan last Thursday.
   The new ultra-large containership (ULCS) is the same design as a series delivered in 2015, and the first ship of the series’ second generation, according to “K” Line. She is scheduled to be deployed on “THE” Alliance’s MED2 loop between Asia and the Mediterranean.
   “K” Line has a total of five ULCSs scheduled for delivery this year, which would bring its total to 10 units.
   The Milano Bridge has an overall length of 365.9 meters (1,200 feet) and a deadweight of 146,931 metric tons.
   The Panama-flagged vessel also has a beam of 51.2 meters (nearly 168 feet) and a depth of 29.9 meters, or 98 feet.
   The delivery of the vessel comes less than three months before “K” Line on April 1 officially launches the Ocean Network Express joint venture with fellow “Big 3” Japanese carriers, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) and Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK Line).
   The ONE members will remain part of THE Alliance upon the merger of the companies’ shipping operations.