The world's largest container ship, loaded with nearly 45,000 tons of China-made Christmas presents and fare for the holiday season, arrived Saturday in Felixstowe in southeastern Britain's Suffolk.
The Emma Maersk, 400 meters long (1,300 Ft), 56 meters wide and 60 meters high, cruised into the UK's biggest deep-water harbor. The ship, dubbed the SS Santa, will unload more than 3,000 containers for supermarkets and stores before heading to Netherlands for its mainland Europe Christmas gifts tour.
The SS Santa, loaded with 11,000 containers of crackers, DVD players, toys, puzzles, lamb meat, clothes and even pet food, was greeted by hundreds of British from the harbor town and other parts of the country.
"It's like a dream to see such a mountain-like ship floating on the sea, and all the more incredible to learn that the ship is bringing Europeans with Christmas made mainly in China," a man who gave his name as David said on the beach.
"Everybody seems to be talking about economic globalization, and this may be a great example," the man who waited over two hours on the beach to see the huge ship said.