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Smooth sailing for Ever Ace

[ September 13, 2021   //   ]

The Ever Ace, the world’s largest container ship, made its maiden call at in Felixstowe over the weekend of 11-12 September.

The 24,000teu vessel arrived at the UK’s largest container port from Hamburg, having commenced its voyage at Qingdao, China in July.

Felixstowe chief executive Chris Lewis, said:

“We are delighted to welcome the Ever Ace on its maiden call at the Port of Felixstowe. Our relationship with Evergreen dates back to 1979 when Evergreen launched its first Asia-Europe service. The scale of growth since then has been nothing short of staggering; those first ships had a capacity of just 1,200teu, one-twentieth of the number the Ever Ace can carry.”

And in case anyone is worried about a similar event to that which occurred to another Evergreen vessel in the Suez Canal a few weeks ago, Harwich Haven Authority  is due to start work in the autumn to increase the depth of the main approach channel into the port. Undertaken by Harwich Haven Authority and due for completion in 18 months, the £120 million scheme will increase the depth of the channel from 14.5 metres to 16.0 metres below chart datum.

The channel deepening will give access for the largest container ships and complements work completed in July to deepen Berth 7 at the port to 16.5 metres. Further work to deepen Berths 6, 8 & 9 is scheduled for 2022.

The Ever Ace is the first of 12 similar A-type ships ordered by Evergreen, 400 long and 61.5 meters wide.

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