Atlantic Sea easily became the largest ever containership to berth at an Irish port when the giant vessel of almost 300m arrived for its inaugural call to Cork Harbour on Thursday (April 17th), writes Jehan Ashmore.
At more than 100,000 gross registered tons (GRT), the Atlantic Sea berthed at the Cork Container Terminal (CCT) at Ringaskiddy in the lower part of the Port of Cork.
The huge multipurpose Malta-flagged combination roll-on/roll-off containership, otherwise known as a ‘conro’ in shipping parlance, is the largest of its kind, which was custom-built for Atlantic Container Line, which is a member of the famous Italian Grimaldi Group.
The ship is part of ACL's fourth-generation (G4) class, which can take 1,300 vehicles and 3,800 TEU containers. Its ro-ro decks are also designed for project cargoes, be they heavy or high. The Atlantic Sea, which was built in China in 2016 as the third of five of the G4 class, are bigger, greener, and more efficient than its predecessors.
Its arrival by ACL represents a significant milestone for CCT and reflects the port’s ability to handle such-sized ships at the recently developed deepwater terminal downriver of the older facility at Tivoli Docks, which still caters to smaller container vessels.
The reason for the arrival of the notable newcomer was described as an 'exploratory call' to determine how well equipped CCT is for direct transatlantic services, given its strategic role in supporting direct services and enhancing Ireland’s global connectivity.
Atlantic Sea otherwise routinely operates on its namesake ocean, which includes calls at Halifax, Canada; New York and Baltimore, USA; Antwerp, Belgium; and Liverpool, UK, before arriving in Cork ahead of its return journey.
The Atlantic Sea departed CCT last evening, and as of this afternoon, Afloat tracked it offshore off southwest Cork, bound for Halifax, Canada. It is scheduled to arrive in six days.
This is not the first time the company has had a connection with Ireland, as almost a year ago, Afloat reported, ACL teamed up with BG Freight Line (BGFL) and Peel Ports in Liverpool and Dublin to provide a new service to significantly improve transit times and reliability in both directions between Ireland and North America.
This involves a ‘feeder’ ship, JSP Anna, on a route rotation of Belfast Harbour, Dublin, and Liverpool, from where it connects with ACL ships at the Merseyside port for the onward connection to and from North America.
