Port of Antwerp welcomes world’s largest container ship

MSC Loreto has a 24,346 TEU capacity. She began her maiden voyage from Ningbo, China, on April 19 and will leave Antwerp for the UK’s Felixstowe on May 28, carrying a range of cargo from plastics and rubber to raw materials and furniture.

Tours to see her arrival were booked within hours at a port that must be one of the few capable of catering for such a large vessel.

“This demonstrates that our port can receive the largest container ships,” said Jacques Vandermeiren, CEO Port of Antwerp-Bruges: . This positions Antwerp well for further increases in scale. It is our ambition as a port to continue to grow in a sustainable way, with a firm finger on the pulse of the global economic situation.”

“As a world port, our port is the economic engine of Flanders,” said Annick De Ridder, vice-mayor of the City of Antwerp and president of the board of directors of Port of Antwerp-Bruges. “With a record ship comes performing infrastructure. We therefore ensure that the largest ships can continue to be handled at the terminals. Record ships also need sufficient container capacity. Additional container capacity Antwerp remains an absolute priority to keep playing at the top level of world ports.”