As the United States have been struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic, North Carolina Ports and its Port of Wilmington have been pushing forward with several long-term initiatives.
Port Wilmington achieved a new record for refrigerated container volume in April 2020. Next week the port will also mark another important achievement when it receives one of the largest container vessels operating on the Atlantic seaboard.
Specifically, the 10-year old Hyundai Hope, a 13,154 TEU container ship, is scheduled to arrive at the Port of Wilmington in the coming week, making it the largest container ship to call at the North Carolina port. The vessel departed from Cartagena, Columbia north along the US East Coast bound for the Port of New York.
In addition, the port set a new record in April 2020 by moving 1,459 refrigerated containers – 2,918 TEUs through Wilmington, while a new refrigerated container yard had opened at the port earlier in the year.
The $14 million project increased the number of on-terminal refrigerated container plugs from 235 to 775 with the ability to expand to more than 1,000 plugs through Phase II of this project. Pork and poultry products are the port’s leading export, while bananas are the largest refrigerated import cargo.
Following, NC ports have many more improvements taking place. The Port opened 2,600 contiguous feet of new container berth space that will allow for the simultaneous operations of two ULCVs at the port increased while the air draft over the Cape Fear River was increased to 212 feet easing containerships transit of the port.
Hans C.E. Bean, North Carolina Ports Chief Commercial Officer stated that
While there is still much uncertainty surrounding COVID-19, we continue to see growth in both import and export demand through the Port of Wilmington … To support this growth, we are making the necessary investments to improve and expand our capabilities which in turn will benefit the North Carolina agriculture industry, the state’s grocery sector and additional cold chain users.
Concluding, Port of Wilmington increased an air draft over the Cape Fear River to 212 feet making the arrival of bigger vessels easier. Specifically, vessels with a carrying capacity of 14.000 TEUs will navigate safely and more efficiently to Wilmington.
