The Port of Melbourne and Victoria International Container Terminal (VICT) has welcomed the Soroe Maersk, the longest vessel to call at the port.
Carrying 9,640 TEU and a record length of 346.98m, Maersk deployed the vessel to Sydney and Melbourne to load empty containers that need to be repositioned back to Asia which is facing a container shortage.
The vessel, 11.28m longer than previous vessels to call at the port, departed on 6 April after loading 4,148 TEU.
Brendan Bourke, CEO, Port of Melbourne, noted that through its port development strategy and investment programmes, the port is ready to accommodate growing vessel sizes in shipping.
Tim Vancampen, VICT CEO, highlighted the requirement to continue to invest in order to keep up with the shipping line requirements for the larger vessels calling Australia: “We welcome the Soroe Maersk and look forward to continuing to accommodate larger vessels of this size at VICT.”
Henrik Jensen, MD of Maersk Oceania, said: “We continuously focus on meeting client requirements whilst also driving efficiencies throughout our service network.
“To that end, the Soroe Maersk port call into Melbourne allows us to test potential future network and infrastructure aspects, and use the one-off vessel call to reposition much-needed empty containers to demand locations in Asia.”
