HÀ NỘI — Margrethe Maersk, a Triple-E container ship which is the world’s largest, docked at Cái Mép International Terminal (CMIT) on Monday – a milestone in Việt Nam’s navigation history.

With the arrival of Margrethe Maersk, CMIT, located downstream Cái Mép River of the southern province of Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu, is the first port in Việt Nam and the 19th in the world to be able to handle an 18,300-TEU Triple-E vessel, according to the Sài Gòn Giải Phóng (Liberated Sài Gòn) daily.

Margrethe Maersk, built by Danish container shipping company Maersk Line, is 399.2m long and 59m wide and has a deadweight tonnage of 194,000.

Triple-E is a class of the world’s largest container ship. The name is derived from its three design principles: economy of scale, energy efficiency, and environmentally friendly.

In recent years, about 30 per cent of Việt Nam’s containers destined for faraway markets had to transit ports in Hong Kong (China), Singapore or Malaysia, which has added to the delivery costs and time.

The vessel Margrethe Maersk is arriving at Cái Mép to load goods to be transported to Europe. With this direct trip, transport time for Vietnamese goods will be cut by a day and transport expense by 10-20 per cent, compared with the traditional shipping routes, which would transit at other countries.

CMIT managing director Robert Hambleton said the arrival of Margrethe Maersk is a landmark for both CMIT and Việt Nam. It proves the capacity of the port and the country, which can become a point of transit for goods being transported from Asia to Europe.

Under a plan for seaport development in Việt Nam until 2020, the Cái Mép complex of container terminals consists of CMIT, Tân Cảng-Cái Mép ODA Terminal and SP-SSA International Terminal. It was designated to be a deep-water port complex capable of handling container ships of more than 100,000 DWT.

About 1.36 million TEU of goods was handled by the Cái Mép complex in 2015. The volume increased by 47 per cent in the following year to more than two million TEU.

The inclusion of CMIT in the network of terminals eligible for receiving Triple-E vessels by 2M Alliance of Maersk Line and MSC demonstrates the strategic position of the Cái Mép complex, and the successful handling of Margrethe Maersk is also a step towards turning this complex into an international point of transit for containers.

In October 2016, Lloyd’s List named CMIT as one of the top four port operators in Asia. — VNS