The Chinese-built MSC Tessa, the world's largest container ship, was officially delivered on Thursday to Mediterranean Shipping Company SA (MSC), which will operate the vessel on the world's busiest freight shipping route between Ningpo port in China and Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
The MSC Tessa is nearly 400 meters long with a deck area equivalent to four full-sized soccer fields, and can carry 240,000 tonnes of cargo at one time.
It is the first of four mega ships ordered by Mediterranean Shipping Company that can carry 24,116 TEUs or 'twenty-foot equivalent units'.
Liu Xuedong, deputy general manager of Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (Group) Co. Ltd., which built the ship, said it could transport anything from industrial equipment to fresh food as it was equipped to handle refrigerated containers on board.
"Most finished products are shipped in containers, such as televisions, refrigerators, washing machines, and some industrial equipment. Of course, the products shipped with containers must meet the volume standard and cannot exceed the maximum volume limit of the unit container. In this way, we can achieve modular transportation. This mega container ship can also transport fresh fruits, as it can be loaded with 2,000 refrigerated containers, which can guarantee cold chain transportation," Liu said.
"The ship will serve the Asia-Europe route linking Chinese city Ningbo and Rotterdam in Europe. It is the route with the largest trade volume in the world at present. Now the service speed of this mega container ship can exceed 20 knots, which makes it like a heavy-load high-speed train. It can load and unload very quickly at major ports, to circulate goods rapidly," Liu said.
The completion and delivery of the MSC Tessa is likely to help consolidate the leading position of Chinese shipbuilders in the construction of ultra-large container vessels.
Source: CCTV
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