OOCL Seoul one of first post-Panamax vessels to call VICT

Approximately 3,400 boxes were handled during the call, with crane productivity at around 70 moves an hour.

The vessel’s call signals Melbourne’s growing ability to match the performance of other major ports at Sydney and Brisbane to accept the larger capacity vessels now being introduced into key Australian container trades, ICTSI said in a press release. Container terminals at the other two key ports further north on the population-heavy Australian east coast are operated by rival port operators DP World and Hutchison Ports, among others.

The OOCL Seoul is one of Orient Overseas Container Line’s (OOCL) 16 SX Class vessels. When it was launched in 2010 it initially entered the premier Asia-Europe trade. As part of OOCL’s new parent company COSCO Shipping Holdings, it has now been pumped into the upgraded Central China-Australia East Coast service, jointly operated by COSCO and ANL with capacity boosted by the introduction of 8,063 teu to 8,500 teu vessels.

VICT has been designed as a highly automated, high efficiency terminal with five post-panamax quay cranes to meet the new higher capacity requirements in Melbourne, with an initial annual capacity of 1m teu and the ability to handle two post-panamax 8,000 teu to 12,500 teu vessels at the same time.

This stands it in good stead for the future as vessels of a similar size and specification to the OOCL Seoul are expected to become increasingly common at VICT, ICTSI added.

Add Seatrade Maritime News to your Google News feed.