Business, Feature, Freight News, Logistics, Sea

Southampton welcomes giants of the sea

[ August 21, 2012   //   Chris ]

The Port of Southampton handled two of the largest and newest containerships simultaneously on 20 August when Hapag-Lloyd’s 13,000teu-plus Hamburg Express and UASC’s  similarly-sized Jebel Ali berthed in tandem at the DP World terminal.

The Port of Southampton has started redevelopment work to cement its ability to handle multiple numbers of next-generation container ships.

Both ships were welcomed by Associated British Ports (ABP)’s port director in Southampton Doug Morrison, ABP’s and DP World Southampton’s managing director, Chris Lewis.

Mr Lewis said, “This is an historic occasion for the terminal, and one that illustrates how Southampton is geared up to handle these gigantic vessels. Against this exciting backdrop, we aim to be the container terminal of choice for customers in the UK.”

Mr Morrison said, “These giant container vessels, with all the economies of scale they bring, are predicted to account for more than half of the capacity of the world’s total container fleet by 2015. Shipping lines are drawn to Southampton because our location means a minimum deviation from the main shipping lanes, offering their customers faster transit times. This means that we are often the first and last port of call in and out of Northern Europe.”

Tags: ABP Southampton, DP World, Hapag-Lloyd, UASC