MSC Gulsun Arrives Rotterdam Port
World's largest container ship the MSC Gülsün arrived yesterday (August 03) at the APMT 2 terminal quay in the Rotterdam harbour and will remain there until Thursday afternoon.The vessel, 400 meters long and with a beam of 62 meters, has a 23,756-TEU (twenty-foot standard containers) capacity, making it the world’s largest container ship.MSC Gülsün is the first container ship capable of transporting 24 containers side by side across the breadth of its hull. The OOCL HongKong, taken into operation two years ago, was the largest containership until now, with a capacity of 21,413 TEU."Increased scale in container shipping is good for the Port of Rotterdam’s competitive position…
Damen Delivers Cutter Suction Dredger 450 ‘Fen He’
A Damen CSD450 dredger was shipped within 3 weeks from receipt of the order. The environmental cutter suction dredger is right now on its way to Taiyaun, China, where it will arrive well in time to assist in fighting the sedimentation problem of the Fen river. The CSD450 dredger will be called ‘Fen He’, which means “River Fen” in Chinese. It will be based in Taiyuan in the Shanxi province in northern China. There, the river Fen leaves the mountains and flows through the city. The river carries a lot of sediment from the mountains and deposits its load around Taiyuan.
The Dordrecht Fleet Continues Growth
The Dutch town of Dordrecht was granted city rights in 1220 as its importance as a trading port continued to grow. Goods from the Dutch empire were transferred to river vessels here and the city grew wealthy. Later, much of the deep-sea trade moved to the nearby port of Rotterdam which resulted in heavy bombing during World War II with the destruction of many historical buildings. Spared such destruction, Dordrecht continues to have many fine buildings dating from the prosperous centuries.