COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s Colombo International Container Terminal (CICT) attracted one of the largest container ships in the world ‘MSC Maya’ with a capacity of 19,224 TEUS to the Colombo Port recently.
Switzerland-owned Mediterranean Shipping Company’s MSC Maya made Colombo’s maiden call on 16th September 2016, replacing a smaller vessel owned by MSC. CICT said it had secured a commitment for a scheduled service by the Panama registered MSC Maya, the largest containership to ever berth in Colombo.
The vessel called on Colombo as part of the Swan service operating on a port rotation of Bremerhaven, Rotterdam, Suez, Colombo, Singapore, Hong Kong, Tianjin, Xingang, Quingdao, Busan, Shanghai, Ningbo, Shenzhen-Yantian, Tanjung Pelepas, Algeciras and Felixstowe.
MSC, a world leader in global container shipping, is expected to add six more similar vessels to Colombo in the near future under SWAN service. “There will be 6 more similar class ships to call Colombo in near future under the same service,” Director Operations and Regional Operation manager for MSC Geneva Shamal Perera said.
MSC REEF, MSC ZOE, MSC JADE, MSC MIRJA, MSC DITTE, MSC ELONANE all are 19,224 TEUS in capacity will be calling Colombo.
“We are proud to be a part of MSC family, the 2nd largest Shipping Line in the world who always knee on strategic changes and added Colombo to their service fleet which is having world largest ships.” he said. Further expressing views he said that it is proved that Port of Colombo is par with major hub ports in the world which can handle world largest container ships.
CICT chief executive Ray Ren said the arrival of the MSC Maya in Colombo is a perfect example for the rationale for a deep water terminal of the scale of the Colombo International Container Terminal.
“It was precisely to attract such Ultra Large Container Carriers (ULCC) that CICT fast-tracked the completion of the terminal, enabling it to commence operations 32 months ahead of schedule,” Ren said. “We are now seeing the results of that achievement.”
CICT closed 2015 with a notable 1.5 million TEU, with the ULCC and Very Large Container Carrier (VLCC) segments making a 67 per cent contribution to that volume. The company is a member of China Merchants Port Holdings Company Limited, the world’s second largest global terminal operator by throughput.
