PORT OF BOSTON HANDLES ITS LARGEST CONTAINERSHIP TO DATE

PORT OF BOSTON HANDLES ITS LARGEST CONTAINERSHIP TO DATE    The largest container ship ever to be handled in the port of Boston, Mass., sailed into harbor this week to unload several hundred boxes of New England bound cargo.
   Mediterranean Shipping Co.’s Alyssa made her maiden voyage into Boston from Le Havre, France. The MSC ship can carry 4,340 containers, measures 903 feet in length and has a draft of 41 feet.
   After unloading more than 400 containers in Boston, the vessel resumed its regular South Atlantic schedule, calling ports in southeastern U.S., the Caribbean and South America.
   The port of Boston said that this was the third vessel call this week by the Swiss shipping line. MSC’s normal schedule is to call Boston twice a week with direct inbound and direct outbound service.
   “Boston, with its deepened waters and modern equipment, can offer the benefits of a larger port in terms of infrastructure and skilled operations, but without some of the problems, such as terminal congestion,” said Mike Leone, Massport’s port director.
   Few shipping lines call at the port of Boston direct. Besides MSC’s calls, the port of Boston receives weekly direct service from a consortia consisting of China Ocean Shipping Co., “K” Line, Yang Ming and Hanjin. The port is also served by a weekly service from a St. Pierre Miquelon feeder vessel from Halifax, and by a barge service from Columbia Coastal Transport, New York.