Thamesport gains at Southampton’s expense

Thamesport gains at Southampton’s expense Thamesport in the United Kingdom has benefited from civil engineering work at Southampton Container Terminals (SCT) by accepting its largest ever vessel, the 352.6-meter-long Adrian Maersk.
   The 7,900-TEU boxship usually operates on Maersk Line’s weekly Asia/Europe AE1 service. Maersk is also switching ships on its AE8 loop to Thamesport while SCT finishes work required to install two new 22-containers-wide gantry cranes. The Grand Alliance has made a similar switch as a result of the space pressure at SCT, the first time the carrier group has called at the Medway port in 11 months.
   'Thamesport is the only deepwater container terminal in the U.K. currently able to accommodate a significant increase in container volumes,” said Chris Lewis, chief executive officer for Hutchison Ports (UK) Ltd., owners of Thamesport (London) Ltd. “The successful handling of these calls has proved that it is an excellent choice for shippers, with excellent turnaround times, and no congestion'.