South Korea's HMM has claimed a new cargo record after the world's biggest boxship took on containers in Asian ports last week.
The giant 23,964-teu HMM Algeciras, delivered last month by South Korean shipbuilder DSME, is en route to Europe with 19,621 teu on board.
The shipowner said it had left Yantian in China on 8 May with the record haul, which beat the 19,574 boxes carried by MSC's 23,756-teu MSC Gulsun (built 2019).
The HMM Algeciras had also called at Busan, Ningbo and Shanghai to reach its total.
Although the ship's nameplate capacity of nearly 24,000 teu suggests it could carry more, the 19,600-teu level is seen as the maximum for safe operation.
The effectively full load again demonstrates the rebound in box volumes in China in particular after coronavirus lockdowns were lifted.
The ship will head through the Suez Canal and on to Rotterdam, Hamburg, Antwerp, London Gateway and then back to Singapore.
"We were able to fully fill the ship with cargoes through cooperation of Hapag-Lloyd, ONE and Yang Ming, which are members of The Alliance, one of the world's three major shipping alliances," an HMM official said in a statement.
"HMM will compete with strong confidence and take the lead in rebuilding the Korean shipping industry."
The huge vessel was handed over with great pomp and circumstance last month.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Deputy Prime Minister Hong Nam-ki were in attendance, together with other ministers from economy, shipping and finance departments.
First Lady Kim Jung-sook served as godmother and cut the ropes to officially name the ship.
HMM Algeciras is the first of twelve such vessels that will join the HMM fleet through to September. They are costing $155.4m each.
The deal was signed in 2018 with three shipyards: Samsung Heavy Industries, DSME and Hyundai Heavy Industries, which is only building eight 16,000-teu ships, not the 300-metre giants being constructed at the other two yards.
The move was a bid to "take proactive actions towards market change as well as form a sustainable profit-generating structure", the company said.
All 20 newbuildings are scrubber-fitted.
