evergreen triton

Baltimore Welcomes Its Largest Boxship to Date

After transiting the Expanded Panama Canal, the 14,424 TEU Evergreen Triton arrived at the Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore on May 24, becoming the largest containership to ever visit Maryland.

Illustration. Source: Flickr - under the CC BY 2.0 license; Image by: Kees Torn

As informed, the ultra large container vessel (ULCV) was able to call the Port of Baltimore following the port’s investment in infrastructure that allows it to handle some of the largest ships in the world.

“Thanks to Maryland’s investment in a 50-foot berth, every year we are seeing larger and larger container ships choosing the Port of Baltimore,” Governor Larry Hogan, commented.

Previously, the largest containership to visit the Port of Baltimore was the 11,000 TEU containership Gunde Maersk, which arrived at the port in October.

Thanks to a public-private partnership between the Maryland Department of Transportation Maryland Port Administration (MDOT MPA) and Ports America Chesapeake, the Port of Baltimore is one of the few ports on the East Coast to have a 50-foot deep channel and a 50-foot deep berth necessary to accommodate the mega-ships traveling through the recently expanded Panama Canal. Ports America Chesapeake operates Seagirt Marine Terminal, the port’s container terminal.

“We are very happy to welcome our largest ever container ship, the Evergreen Triton, to the Port of Baltimore,” James J. White, MDOT Maryland Port Administration Executive Director, said.

In December 2018, MDOT MPA and Ports America Chesapeake announced a USD 32.7 million project to develop a second 50-foot-deep container berth at Seagirt Marine Terminal. When completed, this second berth will allow the Port of Baltimore to handle two supersized containerships simultaneously.

Construction on the new berth is expected to commence by the end of 2019. The berth is expected to become operational by early 2021.

The Port of Baltimore is coming off a record-breaking year in 2018. A record 43 million tons of international cargo was handled last year by the combined state-owned public and the privately-owned marine terminals. That surpassed the previous high mark of 40.9 million tons in 1974.

The value of the cargo passing through the port in 2018 was also a new benchmark: USD 59.7 billion, surpassing the previous USD 53.9 billion set in 2017. The port’s state-owned public terminals handled a record 10.9 million tons of general cargo last year marking the third consecutive year exceeding the 10-million-ton plateau.

In 2018, the port handled 1,023,152 TEU containers marking the first year ever it had exceeded one million.

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