On Feb. 28, 2013, JAXPORT’s TraPac Container Terminal at Dames Point welcomed one of the largest vessels to ever call on Jacksonville’s seaport.
The 6,700 TEU (containers) MOL Maxim traveled from Southeast Asia through the Suez Canal and called on another U.S. east coast port before arriving at TraPac Friday afternoon. The Maxim is nearly 1,000 feet in length and at a breadth of 138 feet is too large to fit through the current Panama Canal locks.
TraPac Vice President and General Manager Dennis Kelly said the Maxim and other larger ships calling on Jacksonville as part of a regular rotation through the Suez Canal clearly illustrate the opportunities ahead.
“ This shows we have the big ships today. They are already coming here, ” said Kelly. “ What we need now is a deeper harbor to enable them to load and unload even more cargo, to bring even more benefit to this region. The opening of the wider Panama locks in a couple of years will, of course, bring greater opportunities for Jacksonville, but clearly the Maxim and the other ships we are seeing coming to us through the Suez Canal now mean the industry already views us as a significant player.”
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Press Release, March 4, 2014