Spotted: Port of Ipswich Welcomes Its Largest Vessel

In today’s spotted we bring you an image of Dijksgracht, the largest vessel to call at the UK’s Port of Ipswich, heading under the Orwell Bridge.

This general cargo vessel arrived at Ipswich with a shipment of 10,500 tons of rice from Texas, USA for the Ipswich Grain Terminal. The cargo was discharged at the Orwell Bulk Terminal, which was opened in 2015.

Owned by the Netherlands-based transportation group Spliethoff, the 18,500 dwt Dijksgracht was built by China’s shipbuilder Jinling Shipyard Jiangsu in 2008.

The ABP Ipswich marine team worked with the Harwich Haven Authority and pilots to plan the safe arrival of the vessel which only had approximately 0.37 meters of clearance between the top of the ship and the Orwell Bridge, port operator Associated British Ports (ABP) said.

“The arrival of the Dijksgracht required precise planning. Marine teams who work on the River Orwell came together to ensure the ship sailed in on a spring tide which gave it approximately one and a half hours to complete the transit up the river. Furthermore, there was only 25 minute window to get the ship safely under the Orwell Bridge,” Paul Ager, ABP Divisional Port Manager, said.

Situated at the head of the River Orwell and 12 miles from the open sea, the Port of Ipswich is the UK’s biggest grain export port, handling 3 million tons of cargo each year.