Port of Antwerp receives largest ship ever

The vessel is 400 metres long, has 19 decks and weighs more unloaded than 55 nuclear submarines. If all 18,000 containers were laid end to end, they would stretch for 110 kilometres.

The Port Authority said it was “delighted” with the arrival of the Mary Maersk. The success of the run proved Antwerp is capable of handling the biggest the world has to offer, said Port Authority CEO Eddy Bruyninckx.

In the first nine months of the year, the port has welcomed 90 ships of 13,000 TEU, as a result of the deepening of the Westerschelde, the channel leading from the North Sea to the port. One week ago, the Mary Maersk’s sister ship Emma Maersk navigated the channel with ease at 15,500 TEU.

“The return on that investment is huge and allows our port, which is good for an added value of about €10 billion, to improve its competitive position,” said Marc Van Peel, Antwerp’s alderman of port affairs.

The success of the Mary Maersk runs coincides with the announcement that three of the world’s biggest freight shipping lines – Maersk, MSC and CMA CGM – to adopt Antwerp as their European platform – a decision described as “a severe blow” for competitor Rotterdam. The so-called P3 consortium has awarded Antwerp a fourth call, of the eight calls that remain for Europe. In shipping terms, a call is when a port is included on a ship’s itinerary for a given route; for various reasons, mainly economic, shipping lines restrict the number of ports of call they use.

Antwerp’s inland position, once seen as a drawback, has now been turned into an advantage, Bruyninckx explained.

“Antwerp is centrally located in Europe,” he said. “Goods can not only be brought further inland once they are in port, they can be handled in various ways before efficiently being transported to their final destination in the European hinterland through an extensive network of connections.” "These assets have been clearly understood. Add to this a private sector that exemplifies our reliability and can-do mentality and the conclusion is that Antwerp is a highly efficient link in any supply chain.”