Sweden: Port of Gothenburg Prepares for Triple-E Vessel

Maersk Line’s huge new container vessel Triple-E is undergoing trials at Chalmers Lindholmen. According to Harbour Master Jörgen Wallroth, the vessel, which will be launched in the summer, could be calling at the Port of Gothenburg.

Triple-E will be the classification for what will be the largest container vessel in the world. To ensure the vessel can put into the Port of Gothenburg safely and efficiently, it is currently undergoing tests on a ship simulator at the Department of Shipping and Marine Technology at Chalmers University of Technology.

“We must be able to guarantee that the vessel can sail into and out of the port in a safe, environmentally correct way. That’s why we are conducting a risk analysis. Together with pilots and tugs, we are putting the vessel through a series of trials on a simulator,” says Jörgen Wallroth, Harbour Master at the Port of Gothenburg.

Together with Maersk Line, SSPA and the Department of Shipping and Marine Technology at Chalmers, the Port of Gothenburg has entered data for the new vessel into the simulator. This work has taken several months. Now the time has finally arrived for the testing staff to take control of the 400-metre-long, 59-metre-wide vessel.

“Our fairway is built to handle vessels that are 60 metres wide and we are currently carrying out trials to ensure that both the approach and departure function smoothly,” Jörgen Wallroth continues.

In total, it will be possible to load 18,000 containers (TEU) on the vessel, which is 2,500 more than Maersk Line’s current largest container vessel, which calls at the Port of Gothenburg each week. The size of the vessel is expected to result in major environmental and efficiency gains.

“Triple E stands for Energy efficiency, Economy of scale and Environmentally improved. We are particularly proud of the fact that Triple E vessels will emit 50 per cent less CO2 per container than the market average on the Asia-Europe service,” says Christian Juul-Nyholm, Head of Maersk Line Scandinavia.

The vessel is currently being built at a shipyard in South Korea. During the summer, it will enter service between Asia and Europe, a route that in recent years has been marked by rapid growth in trade volumes.

“Our hope is that the vessel will call at the Port of Gothenburg and when it does we will be more than ready to receive her,” concludes Jörgen Wallroth.

The testing is going on from the 29th until the 31st January.

[mappress]

Port of Gothenburg, January 31, 2013; Image: Maersk