“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.

The service which is operated by The New World Alliance Lines will serve N. Europe, the UK and a selection of US East Coast ports and Panama. The Americas Europe Express (AEE) service is the Alliance’s third transatlantic service and complements the two existing weekly services that call at the Port of Felixstowe. Amongst its many features, the service offers shippers extremely competitive Westbound transit times (of 8 days) between the Port of Felixstowe and New York.

David Gledhill, Chief Executive Officer for Hutchison Ports (UK) Ltd, which owns the Port of Felixstowe, commented:

“This new service is a great addition to those already calling at the Port of Felixstowe and further cements our position as the UK port of choice. We are pleased to be able to offer our customers easy access to the most comprehensive transport infrastructure in the country whether via road, rail or coastal feeder. “

The Alliance (APL, Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) and Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL)), has deployed high-reefer-capacity ships on the weekly service with an average effective capacity of 3,200teu. APL will supply three of the vessels deployed whilst HMM and MOL will contribute one each. As with the Alliance’s APX service that already calls at the Port of Felixstowe, Maersk Line will take slots. For Hyundai it marks a welcome return to the Port of Felixstowe as a vessel operator.

The first Eastbound vessel (APL INDONESIA) is expected to arrive at the Suffolk port on Saturday 24th March.

The AEE service rotation is: Manzanillo (Panama), Charleston (US), New York (US), Rotterdam (Netherlands), Bremerhaven (Germany), Felixstowe (UK), New York (US), Charleston (US), and Manzanillo (Panama).

The arrival of such a container depot means optimal usage of these shipping companies’ incoming reefer containers. The depot will be established at the Kloosterboer site in Vlissingen under the name “Kloosterboer Container Logistics”. In doing so, Zeeland Seaports and Kloosterboer want to put the Dutch provence of Zeeland on the map in the field of containers.

Currently, Kloosterboer mainly handles import containers. After stripping, the containers are returned to a container depot in Antwerp or Rotterdam. By starting an inland container depot in Vlissingen, (return)-transport and handling costs will be reduced. Local exporters will have the advantage that they no longer have to collect the containers from Rotterdam or Antwerp. Therefore all parties benefit from the new container depot. In the meantime, several tests have been carried out by local onion exporters and they have seen noticeable benefits from the container depot at Kloosterboer. Furthermore, it produces attractive prospects for new trading channels to this part of the Netherlands. The costs, in comparison to the port of Rotterdam or Antwerp, are considerably reduced. In this context, there has been close collaboration between Kloosterboer and port company Zeeland Seaports to use their combined knowledge, experience and networks to keep on the right course.

In addition, Kloosterboer offers a barge service to the larger sea ports for onward transport. The barge transport system has the advantage that the busy routes around the large sea ports are avoided. Furthermore, this enables Kloosterboer to offer CO2 reducing transport. Meanwhile, discussions have already started with other container shipping companies regarding (re-)locating their containers to Vlissingen for export. This is also expected to lead to positive results within a short period of time.

With these innovative concepts alongside the existing conventional liner services to Russia and West Africa, Kloosterboer is putting the port of Vlissingen on the map for further development of containerisation and providing a unique total solution for both importers and exporters.

 MIV is a Special Purpose Vehicle promoted by INKEL. INKEL, a government of Kerala initiative, is taking bold steps in creating infrastructure   to support the growth of EXIM trade in Kerala. APM Terminals Inland Services is proud to be associated with MIV’s initiative to set up and operate a state of the art CFS in Vallarpadam. The facility will be spread over 18 acres and is likely to be operational in 2013 with a capacity of handling 100,000 TEUs per annum. The MoU was signed at Hotel Le Meridien, Kochi, by Mr. Subhasis Ghosh, Managing Director, APM Terminals Inland Services and Mr. T. Balakrishnan, MD, INKEL Limited and Chairman MIV, in the presence of Mr. Paul Antony IAS, Chairman, Cochin Port Trust,  and the Board of Directors of MIV.

 “After the success of our fourth CFS in India in Chennai which won the CFS of the Year award recently, we are delighted to be in Kochi to facilitate the growth of Export Import trade here,” said Mr. Ghosh.

Vallarpadam in Kochi is emerging as a gateway port for India’s EXIM trade. Non availability of sufficient high quality inland container logistics infrastructure is seen as one of the deterrents to growth of EXIM trade in Kerala.

“With APM Terminals Inland services coming to Kochi, we are getting world-class processes  in running container freight stations, providing customer services that will ensure easy access to efficient container logistics and compliance with international norms of safety, security, health and environment, all at one go,” said Mr. Joseph Sandiav, Head, CFS Business, APM Terminals Inland Services.