Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) has taken delivery of the world’s largest container ship, a 24,346 TEU vessel.
The vessel is the second ultra-large containership – both surpassing the 24,000 TEU capacity – in MSC’s fleet.
Maritime Executive reports that the MSC Irina was delivered to Bank of Communications Financial Leasing (BoCom), the ship’s registered owner, who is chartering the vessel to MSC under a long-term agreement. The handover took place in Zhoushan in China on March 9, the same day another ultra-large vessel, the MSC Tessa was delivered in Shanghai. Both vessels are among the largest capacity containerships, forming part of MSC’s expansion, which will see more than 12 ultra-large vessels added to the fleet.
The first ship is expected to depart from China to begin its journey to northern Europe on Friday, while the second vessel, MSC Irina, has not been placed on the same route, and enters service on 21 March.
MSC Irina departs Qingdao on March 23 for Busan, South Korea, before heading back to several Chinese ports and on to Singapore and the Suez Canal. In the Mediterranean, it calls at ports in Italy and Spain, before proceeding to Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Asia.
With a reported capacity of 24,346 TEU, the ship is officially the largest in the world.
