This month, the megaship MSC Gülsün called at APMT Algeciras, her first stopover in Europe. The ship, captained by Lauro Somma, is 400m by 61.5m and has a maximum load of 23,756 TEUs. In September, the second megaship in her class – MSC Mina - is due to make a call on the AE-10/Silk service, run by the 2M Alliance, which has a scheduled stopover at the Port of Algeciras.
The call of the latest leviathan coincides with the start-up of draught improvement works on Juan Carlos Quay at the Port of Algeciras. The aim of the works is to continue to be able to meet the needs of the megaship-operating shipping lines in the most efficient way. Work will affect 550 metres of the quay’s berthline and draughts are set to reach down to the 18.50 metres required to accommodate megaships of this size that are scheduled to arrive fully-loaded with a 17.50-metre draught in the Mediterranean theatre in 2020 after completion of the latest Suez Canal works.
Over a decade ago, our port committed to accommodating the ships of the future. At present, we are working on improvements to our facilities to attend the new containership generations. We have reaped the reward of this past commitment – both public and private – and today we can witness megaships operating at our terminals from the three top shipping lines on the market: Maersk Line, MSC and CMA CGM.
The first ever megaship called at APMT Algeciras on a test run back in November 2012: The Triple-E Class Maersk McKinney Möller. In 2018, the largest capacity ship in the world (until a few days ago) – the CMA CGM Saint Exupéry – regularly worked out of our TTIA terminal. It has only just been surpassed by the MSC Gülsün, with a capacity of over 23,000 TEUs.