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HomeNewsPort of Virginia handles box ship needing 48.5 feet of draft

Port of Virginia handles box ship needing 48.5 feet of draft

“No other port on this coast can even consider handling a ship that needs 48.5 feet of water to operate,” said Jerry A. Bridges, executive director of the Virginia Port Authority. “Virginia has the deepest water on the coast and today we proved it: The Port of Virginia can handle the biggest ships afloat.”

For decades, Virginia’s 50-foot-deep shipping channels have accommodated heavily laden coal-colliers, but Thursday’s sailing of the MSC Roma marked the deepest draft ever needed for a containership.

“This was a significant test and we passed nicely,” Bridges said.The MSC Roma called Virginia Thursday morning, worked through the day and sailed that same evening. The Roma is owned and operated by Mediterranean Shipping Co. (MSC) and deployed in the ocean carrier’s Golden Gate Service, which links the US East Coast to the Far East via the Suez Canal. Virginia is the last North American stop on the Golden Gate Service before it heads back to the Far East.

“The last stop is significant because it allows export cargo to be collected in Virginia, loaded and immediately begin the export leg of the trip,” Bridges said. “Using this service, exports loaded in Virginia will reach their destination quicker because there are no other East Coast port calls. MSC benefits as well because it can take advantage of our 50-foot-deep channels, load heavy and begin to maximize the economics of operating its big ships.”

The Roma is 13 feet longer that the carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) and was built in 2006. She measures approximately 1,105 feet long and 151 feet across the beam (width), or 18 containers across. These dimensions earn the Roma the post-Panamax designation, meaning she is too large to transit the Panama Canal, under the waterway’s current configuration.

The port rotation of the Golden Gate Service is: Hong Kong, Chiwan, Yantian, Shanghai, Ningbo, Singapore, Salalah, Suez Canal transit, New York, Norfolk, Baltimore, Savannah, Freeport (Bahamas), Charleston, Norfolk, Suez Canal transit, Jeddah, Colombo, Singapore, Chiwan and back to Hong Kong.

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