The 24,000 TEU HMM Algeciras, the world’s largest containership, has headed out to sea on its maiden voyage.
The ship left Geoje, Korea following its naming ceremony on April 23 setting sail for China. It departed from the port of Qingdao on Sunday and is heading for the Port of Busan, according to the latest data from Marine Traffic.
The ship is deployed on the Far East Europe 4 (FE4) service, one of the Asia-North Europe trade lanes of THE Alliance.
HMM’s official membership in THE Alliance was launched in April, following the expiry of its commitment to the 2M Alliance.
However, the start of the cooperation comes at a very difficult time for the sector as liners continue to blank sailings amid massive drop in demand due to COVID-19 pandemic.
The blanking of sailings has been adopted as the best way of adapting to the new reality and trying to keep freight rates healthy.
The ship’s port rotation starts at Qingdao, moving on to Busan, Ningbo, Shanghai, Yantian, Suez Canal, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Antwerp, London Gateway, and then Singapore via Suez Canal.
With the capacity of 23,964 HMM Algeciras has claimed the title of the largest containership from MSC Gulsun which has a 23,756 TEU capacity.
The colossal ship is 399.9 meters long and has a beam of 61 meters. It is longer in length than the Eiffel Tower (300 meters) or the Empire State Building (381 meters) are in height, or in sports terminology, longer than three and a half football fields.
HMM Algeciras is fitted with a scrubber, has an optimized hull design and highly efficient engine boosting its environmental footprint and also its efficiency.
The ship is the first of twelve 24,000 TEU class containerships set to be delivered to HMM by September–World Maritime News
