Antwerp receives vessel with draft over 15.5 meters

Pilots at Belgium’s largest port maneuvered to berth Maersk Line’s 15,000-TEU containership Eleonara Maersk, the deepest-draft vessel to ever call at the Port of Antwerp.    Maersk Line’s 15,000-TEU vessel Eleonara Maersk successfully made it through the Scheldt River and entered the Port of Antwerp Thursday with a full load and a record draft of 15.65 meters, according the port authority. The previous record for a vessel’s depth below the water line was 15.5 meters.
   Pilots had to use high tide to make the journey down the Scheldt.
   The Eleonara Maersk forms part of the AE2/Swan service operated by the 2M Vessel Sharing Agreement of Maersk Line and Mediterranean Shipping Co. (MSC) between the Far East and Europe. The vessel sailed directly from the Malaysian port of Tanjung Pelepas. Maersk officials sent the vessel straight to Antwerp instead of making scheduled calls to offload cargo in Tangiers and Southampton to make up for a delay at the Suez Canal.
   The AE2/Swan operates with 12 vessels with an average capacity of 16,454 TEUs, according to ocean carrier schedule and capacity database BlueWater Reporting. The loop has a full port rotation of Tianjin, Busan, Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, Yantian, Tanjung Pelepas, Tangiers, Southampton, Antwerp, Bremerhaven, Gothenburg, Aarhus, Wilhelmshaven, Bremerhaven, Antwerp, Tangiers, Singapore, Shanghai, and back to Tianjin.
   More than 5,000 containers are being transferred at the Deurganck dock, including 4,300 import boxes.
   The Antwerp port authority said the record draft of the Eleaonara Maersk demonstrates its ability to handle ultra-large container vessels.