While on her maiden voyage in the AEX1 service, the container vessel China Shipping Container Lines Globe, currently the world’s - or the “globe’s”- largest container vessel, moored at the port of Zeebrugge, the company said in its press release.

The ship embarked on its first voyage in China last December. The CSCL Globe measures 400 meters in length and is approximately 59 meters wide. Its stunning maximum capacity is 19.100 twenty feet equivalent units. Lining the containers up in a row would result in a container chain of 115 kilometers. The Hyundai Heavy Industries shipyard in South Korea will be delivering four sister vessels in the course of the year.

The continuously growing dimensions in shipping allow freight to be transported more economically. The CSCL Globe’s engine automatically adjusts fuel consumption based on the ship’s speed and sea conditions, which means that the ship should use a fifth less fuel per container than the vessels in the 10.000 TEU category.

The scaling up in the shipping industry causes ports and port terminals to adapt their water depth and their manoeuvering capacity, as well as an adjusted port infrastructure. The port of Zeebrugge has seen many evolutions over the last couple of years.

The building of this ultra-large container ship is very authoritative in the maritime world.

The port has invested in the maritime accessibility and adapted the container quay infrastructure for the new dimensions of the vessels. “At the Albert II dock in the outer port of Zeebrugge, the world-class container facility of APMT Zeebrugge serves the needs of the highly demanding container sector.”, says Joachim Coens, CEO of Port of Zeebrugge.