Baltimore breaks container moves record

The Maryland Port Authority has announced that the Port of Baltimore has broken a record as longshore workers conducted 5,536 container moves during the visit of the Maersk Edinburgh.

In a statement, the Authority said it was the largest number of moves for a single ship in the Port’s 314-history.

This broke the previous record of 5,181 moves set in 2019. Container moves are the number of times an imported container is unloaded from a ship, as well as when an export or empty container is loaded onto a ship.

“This record container activity is a significant milestone for the Port of Baltimore and a sign that the maritime shipping industry is coming back and fueling Maryland’s economic recovery,” said Governor Larry Hogan.

“The container growth at the Port of Baltimore shows the benefits of public private partnerships in delivering infrastructure more quickly and stretching state and federal dollars by also relieving the state of the long-term infrastructure maintenance costs.”

The Maersk Edinburgh has a capacity of 13,092 TEU. The vessel arrived at the Port of Baltimore on August 16 and departed late last night.

Maersk Line is a member of the 2M shipping alliance with Mediterranean Shipping Co., which also includes a strategic cooperation slot sharing arrangement with another global shipping line, ZIM Line.

“We’re seeing more containerized cargo coming into the Port of Baltimore because we maximize cooperation with the private sector,” said William P. Doyle, executive director of the Maryland Department of Transportation Maryland Port Administration (MDOT MPA).

“The Port of Baltimore thrives on its growing, open-for-business focus to attract partnerships, including e-commerce-related warehousing, distribution and fulfillment centers.”

Massive ships such as the Maersk Edinburgh can call on the Port of Baltimore because of infrastructure that can accommodate some of the largest vessels in the world.

The 50-foot berth that allows access for these ships was built as part of the public-private partnership (P3) between MDOT MPA and Ports America Chesapeake, which operates Seagirt Marine Terminal.

https://www.porttechnology.org/news/baltimore-breaks-container-moves-record/