At 1,066 feet long, Mediterranean Shipping Company’s MSC Judith arrived at the Port of New Orleans’ Napoleon Avenue Container Terminal Saturday tying the Port’s record for the longest container ship to berth in New Orleans.
New Orleans Terminal worked the Panamanian-flagged container ship, which has a capacity of more than 8,000 twenty-foot-equivalent-units. While the Port has hosted ships with more TEU capacity, the ship is the longest container ship to berth at the Port by about 60 feet.
"The arrival of the MSC Judith illustrates the confidence MSC has in the Port of New Orleans to handle the company’s largest container ships," said Gary LaGrange, Port President and CEO. "With our 150-guage gantry cranes installed two years ago, the Port has the ability to efficiently work more than 9,000-TEU vessels."
The Port is served by the industry’s largest container carriers, including MSC, Hapag-Lloyd, CMACGM, Maersk, ZIM, Seaboard, CSAV and Libra. The terminal currently has a capacity of 640,000 TEUs annually. However, construction is underway on the new Mississippi River Intermodal Terminal, which will increase capacity to more than 840,000 TEUs annually.