On Wednesday evening, the 24,000 TEU mega-carrier “Ever Ace” of the Taiwanese shipping company Evergreen berthed at HHLA Container Terminal Burchardkai (CTB) on its maiden voyage. The newbuilding, which was launched at the South Korean shipyard Samsung Heavy Industries at the end of July, is currently the world’s largest container vessel with a length of 400 metres and a width of 61.5 metres.
The “Ever Ace” is the first ship in a series of twelve newbuildings that will be delivered to Evergreen by 2024. She operates in a regular liner service between the Far East and Northern Europe. At Burchardkai, the mega-carrier discharges and loads more than 8,800 standard containers (TEU). Up to six container gantry cranes work on the ship at the same time.
In recent years HHLA has prepared for the increasing ship sizes in container shipping with a whole package of measures. These include a third mega-ship berth with five new container gantry cranes at CTB. HHLA has thus created additional capacities for handling ultra large container vessels with a cargo volume of 24,000 TEU and more.