The Port of Oakland welcomes the largest containership ever to call any seaport in North America. The MSC Fabiola is a 12,562 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent-unit) vessel; an average container equals two TEUs. It is part of the fleet of the world’s second-largest shipping company, Geneva-based Mediterranean Shipping Co SA. MSC is one of the Port of Oakland’s fastest-growing carriers.
The vessel will arrive from the Port of Long Beach today and will be berthed at Oakland International Container Terminal. It will depart Thursday for an 18-day trans-Pacific voyage to Fuzhou and then onto four other ports in China.
“Hosting the largest containership ever to call in North America is what we mean when we say that the Port of Oakland is World Class, World Fast, ” said Oakland Board of Port Commissioners President Pamela Calloway . “ We invest in our terminals, navigation channels, and landside infrastructure to welcome these ships because they are the cleanest and safest in the industry. They are also where the industry is headed and where we must head to continue to compete.”
The MSC Fabiola is almost a quarter mile long, more than the length of four football fields or about equal to the height of a 55-story building. If all of the containers that fit on the ship were put end to end, they would stretch almost 50 miles.
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Dredging Today Staff, March 21, 2012; Image: portofoakland