THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: MSC Turkiye, one of the world’s largest container ships, berthed at Vizhinjam International Seaport, in a landmark event that showcased the port’s capacity to handle ultra large vessels, on Tuesday.
It is the first time that the ship, which is part of MSC’s Jade service, is berthing at a port in South Asia. The ultra large vessel is 400 m long and 61.3 m wide and 33.5 m in depth. It has a capacity to carry 24,346 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).
The vessel has come from Singapore. It reached the outer sea on Tuesday and was berthed at 5.10 pm. The vessel sailing under the flag of Liberia will leave for Tema port in Ghana after discharging around 2,000 TEUs containers, on Thursday.
MSC Turkiye is also the largest fuel-efficient container ship with a low-carbon footprint per container. The port made its mark in the maritime world by receiving MSC Claude Girardet, another ultra large vessel in September last year. The port has received 257 ships handling over 5.2 lakh TEUs containers since the trial operation began on July 12 last year.