“The newly delivered cranes are termed “Super Post-Panamax” in recognition of their ability to handle the very largest vessels currently afloat,” noted Michael Them Rasmussen, General Director of CMIT. With an outreach of 22 container bays, the new cranes can handle vessels up to a size of 15,000 TEU when CMIT opens for business on March 15th 2011. “CMIT will be the first container terminal in Vietnam to cater to this size of container vessel and will be complemented by direct access to the newly dredged Cai Mep Terminal Channel offering a minimum water depth of -14m,” added Rasmussen. Shipping lines have shown tremendous interest in southern Vietnam over recent months with twelve vessel strings already offering direct liner services between Cai Mep and North America, Europe and the Mediterranean, and with a further three new services recently announced. “With the new deep water access, and the continuing flow of new buildings exceeding 10,000 TEU into the Asia-Europe trades, interest in bringing larger and larger container vessels to Vietnam has continued,” said Rasmussen. “Vessels exceeding 11,000 TEU in size have recently been announced for direct European services calling at Cai Mep, and CMIT will be ideally placed to handle such services,” he added. Container volume at the Ho Chi Minh City and Cai Mep ports surged by 21% in the first eleven months of 2010 leading to a full year 2010 estimated throughput of over 4.3 million TEU.
Monday, December 23, 2024
