The largest ship to ever enter Israel arrived on Thursday morning towards dawn. The largest ship ever to arrive in Haifa entered the port, a container ship with a huge capacity of 15,300 containers, the Maersk Hamburg.

The ship sails under the flag of Singapore, and is a cargo vessel. Its gross tonnage is 153744, deadweight 178257 tons, and its overall length X breadth is 353.02 meters by 54 meters. It was built in 2019.

Until recently, ships of this size were unable to enter an Israeli port. This was made possible with the opening of the new terminals in Haifa and Ashdod. The preparations of the Haifa port included the purchase of two cranes that can transport containers from such large ships, and the deepening of the water in the adjacent area in order to suit the ship, bringing it to the Carmel Terminal in the Port of Haifa.

The ship arrives in Haifa as part of a permanent container line operated by the two largest shipping companies in the world, Maersk and MSC, a line that leads to the Port of Haifa and begins its journey through the ports of the Far East, from where it continues via the Suez Canal directory to the Port of Haifa.

From Haifa it continues the Adriatic coast, and back to the Far East. As of the current ship, containers of the ZIM shipping company also arrive in Israel on this route. Starting this week, ships of this size will continue to arrive at the port of Haifa next week, Maersk Havana, which was launched only last January, is approaching the Red Sea and will reach Haifa on Independence Day.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)