The CMA CGM Brazil has become the largest vessel ever to enter the Port of New York & New Jersey and to dock on the US East Coast.
In a statement the container shipping line said the 15,072 TEU vessel is 366m long, equivalent to eight Statues of Liberty, and 51m wide. It is currently deployed on the weekly Colombus JAX service.
The vessel arrived at the Port on September 12 2020 having first called at the Port of Halifax, Canada. It departed New York and New Jersey on September 14 and arrived at the Port of Virginia a day later, where at the time of writing it still is.
It is due to call at the Port of Savannah on September 19 and the Port of Charleston on September 20, as it completes its service of East Coast US ports.
CMA CGM said it was “dedicated to meeting the needs” of its US customers as the country recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Furthermore, it described the vessel’s deployment as a symbol of the its commitment to supporting that recovery and to contributing to the US economy’s overall health.
It said: “Our port partners on the East Coast played a crucial role in making this feat possible by implementing the necessary and timely infrastructure improvements needed to accommodate these larger ships.
“Improvements without which this milestone would not have been possible.”
“This landmark record further reaffirms our commitment to the United States where we stand as the outright leader in terms of total combined export/import market share.”