JAXPORT has welcomed the largest container vessel to ever call at Jacksonville, following the arrival of the ZIM ship Kota Pekarang.
The vessel, which has a capacity of nearly 12,000 TEU, is part of a service offered by the 2M Alliance, which also consists of major shipping lines such as Maersk, MSC, and Hamburg Süd.
Before calling at Jacksonville, the Kota Pekarang became the largest ship to visit the Port of Wilmington in North Carolina, another large port on the US East Coast.
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In order to accommodate a ship of this size, the North Carolina facility has commenced expansion and upgrade plans, including the implementation of a third neo-Panamax crane.
According to a statement from the Jacksonville Port Authority, ZIM’s ship transited the Panama Canal from Northeast Asia before reaching the US East Coast, eventually discharging and loading cargo at JAXPORT’s Blount Island Marine Terminal.
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The arrival of the vessel marks the second successive month in which JAXPORT has broken its record for handling increasingly large ships, with the port welcoming the 11,000 TEU ZIM vessel Cape Sounio in March 2019.
JAXPORT now expects even larger ships to make their way to the Florida trade hub, increasing the necessity for a harbour deepening project that is already underway.
Jacksonville is Florida’s largest container port complex by volume and is directly served by all of the major shipping alliances around the world.