HONG KONG's Hutchison-owned Port of Felixstowe, Britain's biggest container gateway tested its deepwater berths ahead of the arrival of ultra-large containerships since extension of berths eight and nine to 730-metre quay lengths and 15 metres depth alongside.

    Felixstowe received its first megaship, the 14,100-TEU CSCL Star, on its maiden voyage, one of five to join the CSCL fleet in 2011, reported London's International Freighting Weekly. It successfully performed a number of discharge moves on the vessel, measuring 366 metres long and 51 metres wide, with a maximum draft of 14.5 metres.

    Hutchison Ports (UK) chief executive officer and terminal owner David Gledhill said, "There is an increasing trend towards ultra-large container vessels on many services operating between the Far East and Europe and it is essential the UK has the right facilities to accommodate these ships."

    The testing during the first phase of Felixstowe South development was vital to make certain new systems resilient before the terminal is formally opened, he added in a report from London-based Port Technology International news site.

    The second phase will increase the port's deep-water container facilities to four kilometres of deep-water quays and annual capacity increase of 1.5 million TEU to 5.2 million TEU by 2016.

(Source:http://www.schednet.com)