Weeks after acquiring its new Super Post Panamax cranes, Hutchison Ports FCP welcomed the largest container vessel to ever call at the facility.

The MSC Shreya B, a 12,000 teu (twenty-foot equivalent unit) vessel, called at the port recently, opening the door to a new scale of business. The vessel was able to call at the port due to the capacity of the high tech, remote-controlled cranes to accommodate the world’s largest vessels.

This is the first 12,000 teu vessel to visit our terminal, said Container Port Director, Lucian Laing.

“The important thing to note is that we just recently placed these three remotely operated Super Post Panamax cranes into our live operation at the end of July, and now here we are servicing the largest vessel to call at our terminal to-date without any operating restrictions due to the size of the vessel.” 

The new state-of-the-art cranes replace those that were destroyed during Hurricane Matthew two years ago. These larger cranes have not only introduced the latest in crane technology to the port, but have also expanded its capacity in terms of what can be offered to its customers.

“These cranes have placed us in a much better position to accommodate larger vessels with more capacity,” said Laing.

The Port Director also reported that the captain of the MSC Shreya B was pleased with the way the vessel was able to maneuver into the FCP berth.

Laing said that this successful venture should open the door to expanded business for the port, which has worked diligently to recover after the devastating loss of two of its cranes during the 2016 storm.

“We are in a much better position than we were prior to the storm,” said Laing.

“We hope that this is the beginning of a turn of events that actually gives us more business,” he added. “We expect our customers to be pleased with our performance, and it will generate more business for the terminal.”

Notes to editors:
Situated only 65 miles from Florida, Hutchison Ports FCP is the natural transshipment hub for the Eastern seaboard of the Americas and the principal East/West Line Haul routes through the region.

Hutchison Ports is the port and related services division of CK Hutchison Holdings Limited (CK Hutchison). Hutchison Ports is the world’s leading port investor, developer and operator with a network of port operations in 52 ports spanning 26 countries throughout Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, the Americas and Australasia. Over the years, Hutchison Ports has expanded into other logistics and transportation-related businesses, including cruise ship terminals, airport operations, distribution centres, rail services and ship repair facilities.

In 2017, Hutchison Ports handled a combined throughput of 84.7 million TEU.