Eastern Car Liner, Ltd. has launched a new heavy-lift vessel – MV Giga Trans, with 2x250 MT crane capacity, combinable to 500 metric tons – which is now on her maiden voyage.

After first loading in Korea and China, she made her first maiden voyage discharge call at the Port of Long Beach’s Pier F. Voyage #001 then continued to Houston, Newark and Tilbury. This momentous first voyage included 23 transformers up to 234 metric tons each.

The 16,624 deadweight / 130m LOA multi-purpose vessel was launched on January 6th at Honda Heavy Industries Shipyard in Japan. She is optimized for heavy-lift, oversized and global project cargo and serves to elevate the technical capabilities for ECL. She has 3 hatches and holds, each with adjustable ‘tween decks, and the forward hatch can be configured for exclusively for IMDG hazardous cargo.

The name “Giga Trans” was chosen as a repeat of the original MV Giga Trans, a memorable 450 ton capacity vessel operated by ECL from 1998 till 2010.

ECL is based in Japan and operates a fleet of PCTC and multi-purpose vessels throughout the Far East and South Asia, and a Trans-Pacific service to USA and Canada. The new Giga Trans will primarily serve the North America trade but also work spot tramp voyages to and from North Atlantic ports.