The US’s North Carolina Ports has marked a new milestone in its expansion plans with the arrival of its first ever 12,000-teu containership.
The 12,000-teu Kota Pekarang (built 2017), which is operated by ZIM as part of the 2M Alliance, made its maiden call at the Port of Wilmington on Monday
“This is a monumental milestone for North Carolina Ports and the Port of Wilmington,” said Paul Cozza, executive director, North Carolina Ports.
“This is proof of concept that we are big ship ready and capable of handling some of the largest container vessels calling East Coast ports today.”
North Carolina Ports chief commercial officer Greg Fennell said that the arrival of a ship of this magnitude signals to our customers that we are “ready and capable” of handling their growing business needs.
The Kota Pekarang’s visit to Wilmington comes on the heels of the arrival of North Carolina Ports’ third neo-Panamax crane earlier this month.
The three cranes were purchased for $33.8m and manufactured by China's Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industry Co, the world’s largest heavy duty equipment manufacturer of port equipment.
It is part of the organization’s $200m capital improvements plan aimed at expanding the Port of Wilmington’s infrastructure to accommodate 14,000-teu ships – the largest ships currently calling the US East Coast.
NC Ports’ infrastructure improvements plan includes a wider turning basin, berth enhancements, new neo-Panamax cranes and an overhaul of Wilmington’s container terminal.
The terminal renovations will double the port’s annual throughput capacity to 1.2mteu and triple its refrigerated container capacity to 1,000 plugs.
Containerships over 15,000-teu make up just 10% of global capacity, but account for over 45% of newbuild capacity, according to Deutsche Bank shipping analyst Amit Mehrotra.
Mehrotra said in a recent report that he continues to observe expansion and/or investment into US East Coast ports with recent port data indicating the East Coast is taking market share.
