On Wednesday (07), the Port of Paranaguá received the megaship MSC Elisa XIII, from the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), which made a one-off call at the Paranaguá Container Terminal (TCP). In addition to being 12 times longer than Christ the Redeemer, at 366 meters, the ship is 48.20 meters wide, has a capacity of 139,700 tons and can carry up to 14,432 TEUs (20-foot container length). The ship comes from the United States, docks at the Port of Paranaguá and heads for Singapore.
Before the MSC Elisa Xll arrived, another ship of the same size had already docked five days earlier. On January 29, it was the turn of the MSC Natasha XIII, Elisa’s sister ship, which has exactly the same characteristics in terms of length, width and capacity. This week’s vessel is the second of its size to be received in the state and the largest ever recorded in Paraná. The previous record was held by the APL Yangshan, owned by French shipowner CMA CGM, in November 2022, at 347 meters.
The CEO of Portos do Paraná, Luiz Fernando Garcia, commented on the importance of expanding the draft, through dredging works and services carried out by the public company, in order to attract large ships. “It’s the excavation works and dredging services carried out by Portos do Paraná that allow us to receive increasingly larger ships, expanding our handling capacity and allowing us to advance around the world,” he said.
Currently, the draft (depth between the ship’s lowest point and the waterline) for container ships in Paranaguá is 12.3 meters in the main and alternative channels.
In addition to having the necessary depth to receive the ship, the Port of Paranaguá has a large reefer yard (an area for containers with temperature control), which is necessary to power the containers with frozen chicken meat, which represents more than 80% of what will be exported by the megaship.
By the end of February, TCP is expected to have expanded from 3,624 to 5,268 sockets, which represents a 45% increase in area. The investment aims to maintain the Port of Paranaguá as the largest corridor for handling this type of protein in the world.
The commercial manager for shipowners of the company that manages TCP, Carolina Brown, highlights the importance of being the first Brazilian terminal to receive container ships. “The berthing of the MSC Natasha XIII and MSC Elisa XIII demonstrate TCP’s ability to receive ships of this magnitude. Our structure allows us to act as a port hub for shipowners, centralizing their operations efficiently and bringing new business opportunities to our clients, who can transport an ever-increasing volume of products,” he added.
Source: AGÊNCIA ESTADUAL DE NOTÍCIAS
