The largest container ship to call in North Europe so far has made its maiden call at the Port of Felixstowe. The 20,568 TEU Madrid Maersk, operated on the 2M NEU2 Asia to Europe service, has arrived at the port with over 6,000 TEU for the UK loaded in China and Malaysia.
Clemence Cheng, Chief Executive Officer of the Port of Felixstowe and Managing Director of Hutchison Ports Europe, commented that the Port of Felixstowe is established as the port of first-choice in the UK for the largest mega ships and most frequent range of services on the Asia – Europe trade.
Built by South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, the Madrid Maersk is 399 metres long, has a beam of 58.6 metres and is the first of Maersk Line’s 2nd generation Triple-Es, known officially as the EEE Mark II. The original Triple-Es have been regular callers at Felixstowe since 2013. Delivery of the remaining 10 Triple-E Mark II’s is expected to take place between now and the middle of 2018.
Recently, the Port of Rotterdam also welcomed the over-20,000 TEU MOL Triumph, which was the largest container ship to call North Europe at that time.
