MEDITERRANEAN Shipping Company has deployed a giant on the east-west network.
At some 400 metres, MSC Gülsün has a record-size capacity for a container ship of 23,756 TEU and is the first in a series of eleven 23,000+ TEU vessels ordered by MSC.
The Panama-flagged ship ship was recently delivered following a ceremony at the Samsung Heavy Industries Geoje shipyard in South Korea.
The ship is to operate on the 2M Silk Service, starting with a voyage this week and calling at ports in China, South Korea, Malaysia, Egypt, Spain, Germany, Poland, Russia and the Netherlands.
https://www.scmp.com/video/china/3017798/worlds-largest-container-vessel-msc-gulsun-begins-maiden-voyage-northern-chinaThe deployment of these ships is understood to be part of MSC’s efforts to help ensure customers have sufficient service on the major trade lanes between Asia and Europe.
MSC Gülsün’s container capacity compares with a series of vessels built for OOCL in recent years that had capacity for 21,413TEU.
Port economist David Bayne said while such a vessel would not be coming to Australia, it could have an indirect impact.
“What it does do is push the shipowners to try and bring in the 13,000TEU vessels which of course could come to Australia if it wasn’t for Melbourne,” he said.
The voyage of the MSC Gülsün has coincided with the arrival of two larger ships (in the Australian context) down under, those being MSC Elma and Maersk Skarstind, both around 9400TEU.
