Port of NY/NJ to handle largest containership in port history

The 10,000-TEU MOL Benefactor, currently serving on the G6 Alliance’s Asia-U.S. East Coast NYX loop, will be the first container vessel to call a USEC port after transiting the newly opened Panama Canal expansion.    The Port of New York and New Jersey on Friday will handle the largest containership in its history, according to a statement from the port authority.
   The 10,000-TEU MOL Benefactor, currently serving on the G6 Alliance’s recently launched NYX loop between Asia and the United States East Coast, will be the first container vessel to call a USEC port after transiting the newly opened Panama Canal expansion.
   The expanded Central American waterway was inaugurated last week in a ceremony that included government officials, industry executives, media representatives and tens of thousands of spectators. The widened canal, construction of which started in 2007, allows for vessels with up to 14,000 TEUs of capacity to pass through its locks, nearly three times the previous 5,000-TEU limit.
   The MOL Benefactor will call at the GCT Bayonne terminal, the most highly automated facility in the New York/New Jersey port complex and currently the only terminal capable of handling vessels of that size.
   In order to reach container terminals in Elizabeth and Newark, NJ, as well as Staten Island, NY, ships must pass under the Bayonne Bridge. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is currently in the process of raising the bridge in order to accommodate the larger, taller vessels that can now transit the Panama Canal.
   According to ocean carrier schedule and capacity database BlueWater Reporting, the G6 Alliance members launched the NYX with the departure of the MOL Benefactor from Qingdao June 7. The services operates with 10 vessels with an average capacity of 10,089 TEUs on a full port rotation of Qingdao, Ningbo, Shanghai, Busan, Manzanillo (PA), New York, Norfolk, Savannah, Manzanillo (PA), Busan and Qingdao.
   Meanwhile, the North Carolina State Ports Authority yesterday welcomed the largest containership to ever to call the Port of Wilmington, the 7,455-TEU Hanjin Baltimore.
   “This is an important day for our ports and for the state of North Carolina,” North Carolina State Ports Authority Executive Director Paul J. Cozza said in a statement. “We’ve been working diligently on modernizing our ports and to see our plans come to fruition by proving that the Port of Wilmington is big ship ready is a great feeling.”
   The Hanjin Baltimore currently serves on the CKYHE Alliance’s Asia-USEC AWE1 loop, which operates with a total of 10 ships with an average capacity of 5,724 TEUs, according to BlueWater Reporting. The full port rotation of the service is Ningbo, Shanghai, Busan, New York, Wilmington, Savannah, Busan and Ningbo. Israeli ocean carrier ZIM also purchases slots on the AWE1.
   The port authority said recent infrastructure improvements will allow the Port of Wilmington to handle larger post-Panamax vessels – up to 10,000 TEUs – by the end of this summer.
   “This landmark event is the product of a North Carolina Ports infrastructure investment plan to meet shipping industry requirements,” said Tom Adams, chairman of the board of directors of the North Carolina State Ports Authority. “With the expansion of the Panama Canal taking place last weekend, the Port of Wilmington is adding new cranes, an enhanced berth, a wider turning basin and will have further expansion in the future.”