VIDEO: CMA CGM Boxship Blazes Trail for Sea Giants at NYNJ Port

The 14,400 TEU capacity CMA CGM Theodore Roosevelt became the largest containership to call the port of New York and New Jersey when it arrived at the APM Terminals Elizabeth container terminal on Thursday, September 7.

The ultra-large container ship also established a new record as the largest vessel to pass under the raised roadbed of the Bayonne Bridge, which now gives air draft clearance to vessels of up to 18,000 TEU capacity.

Until recently, containerships calling the Port of New York & New Jersey were mainly of the 5,000-8,000 TEU size class. The previous record for the largest vessel to call at APM Terminals Elizabeth was 9,600 TEUs.

“The ships of the future are here today and we want to recognize the Port of NY/NJ, CMA CGM and our APM Terminals Elizabeth team for bringing the future to the present. We are proud to play a central role in helping our customers keep pace with the changing needs of the shipping industry and investing in the port infrastructure essential to port productivity and the supply chains of the future,” APM Terminals Chief Commercial Officer Henrik Lundgaard Pedersen said.

The CMA CGM Theodore Roosevelt was invited by the Port Authority of NY/NJ to formally inaugurate the newly modified Bayonne Bridge as part of its maiden voyage to the US East Coast.

The USD 1.6 billion project, completed in June, raised the bridge roadbed by 64 feet (19.5 meters) to 215 feet (65.5 meters), enabling ultra-large container ships to call terminals on the Newark Bay on the New Jersey side of the port’s inner harbor.

The CMA CGM Theodore Roosevelt, launched on July 28th, in Yangshan, China, is undertaking a maiden voyage on the Ocean Alliance South Atlantic Express (SAX) service linking Shanghai, Ningbo, Yantian and Hong Kong to Savannah, Charleston and Norfolk on the US East Coast.

On August 22nd, it became the largest vessel, at 1,200 feet (366 meters) in length, and 158 feet (48 meters) wide, to transit the recently enlarged Panama Canal locks.

APM Terminals Elizabeth undergoing an extensive modernization project that will be completed in 2018.

The 350-acre facility is in the midst of a USD 200 million infrastructure investment program that will equip APM Terminals Elizabeth with the capabilities required to meet the anticipated increase in ultra-large container ships into the global fleet and the US trade lanes.

Berth reconstruction and additional berths with dredging to 50 feet will create extra berth spaces to operate at least three upgraded ships alongside simultaneously. Four new gantry cranes with a 23 container reach will be added and a new, state-of-the-art truck gate complex will be constructed in the previously unused terminal area.

Image Courtesy: CMA CGM, USCG