The largest container ship ever to call the Maryland Port of Baltimore arrived February 1 at Seagirt Marine Terminal. The Tokyo, one of Mediterranean Shipping Company's (MSC) largest ships, weighs nearly 72,000 tons dead weight, is 900 feet in length, 131 feet breadth, and 184 feet high. This is the Tokyo's first visit to Baltimore.
'This is a day that will go down as one of the most significant events in the 300-year history of our port,' said Maryland Port Administration (MPA) Executive Director Brooks Royster. 'Several years ago, these waters and this port could not accommodate a ship of this size. By continuing with our dredging program and deepening these waters, we open our port to bigger ships with larger amounts of cargo. That means more business for our port and more business for the state of Maryland.'
The one-year old Tokyo is equipped to handle approximately 5,600 Twenty Equivalent Unit containers. The public terminals managed by the MPA regularly handle ships with 4,000-plus teus.
The Tokyo traveled to Baltimore from Charleston. The ship was put into service at the last minute, so it did not follow the normal rotation of Baltimore being the first US port of call. The Tokyo will head to Antwerp from Baltimore. This is a one time only call for the Tokyo, which is flagged from Liberia. She is typically on the South Atlantic and Gulf run for MSC.
In 2005 MSC, one of the MPA's largest customers, handled 200,000 of the 600,000 total containers processed through the MPA's terminals.
