THE world's biggest containership, the 19,224-TEU MSC Maya, the fourth of 20 Oscar-Class vessels, has arrived at APM Terminals Gothenburg from Bremerhaven.
It is its first regular port calls of the Maersk Line/Mediterranean Shipping Company AE-2/Swan Far East/North Europe Service in the 2M alliance.
These Oscar-class vessels are the world's current record holders in container carrying capacity. They are 396 metres-long and require a depth of 16 metres.
"This is the only port in Sweden with a water depth to handle vessels this large," noted APMT vessel planner Peter Hagg.
The MSC Maya will be in port for only a total of 35 hours. A total of 50 port staff are assigned to work three shifts to move containers onto and off of the vessel.
The logistics have been planned down to the smallest detail. Crane operations, and container movements in the yard performed by straddle carriers are part of the optimised operations to ensure maximum productivity.
The final vessel loading and unloading planning was completed 24 hours before arrival, to take account weather and wind conditions, as well as the exact arrival time of the ship at the port.
Next month, APM Terminals Gothenburg will dock the same-size MSC Zoe, another Oscar-class vessel entering into the MSC fleet.
APM Terminals Gothenburg began operations in January of 2012, after being announced the winner of the concession bidding process for the existing Skandia Container Terminal concession in October 2011.
The company is investing US$115 million in the facility to establish Gothenburg as a deep-water hub for Scandinavia and the Baltic area. Gothenburg's overall container throughput was 837,000 TEU in 2014, with APM Terminals Gothenburg handling 759,000 TEU, or half of Sweden's annual container traffic.
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