Hutchison Ports Port of Felixstowe said it continues the work to expand its ability to handle the world's largest containerships after breaking its own record for the most containers handled on a single ship for the third time in two months.

"The increasing size of container ships places great demand on port resources and we are pleased with the way we have responded to this challenge. We are continuing to invest in the people, infrastructure, systems, and equipment needed to service the growing number of ultra-large container ships on the world’s major trades as well as the increasing volume of containers on each ship," said Robert Ashton, chief operating officer at the Port of Felixstowe.

He noted that work is also underway to further increase the port’s ability to handle the world’s largest container ships.

The Port Felixstowe chief said Harwich Haven Authority is dredging the main approach channel to increase the depth from 14.5 meters to 16.0 meters.

"Work commenced last year and is due to be completed in 2023. The port is also increasing the depth at its deep-water berths. Berth 7 was deepened to 16.5 meters and Berth 6 will also be dredged to 16.5 meters in 2022 at the same time as Berths 8&9 are increased to 18.0 meters," Ashton added.

In its statement, the United Kingdom's busiest container port said the latest benchmark record was set when a total of 27,961 TEU (standard containers) were handled on the MSC AMELIA which sailed from the port on March 8.

Prior to this, 25,852 TEU had been handled on the Moscow Maersk the previous week and 23,773 TEU were handled on the MSC DILETTA on January 12, also in 2022. 

All three vessels are operated on the 2M Alliance Griffin/AE55 Far East Asia to North Europe service.

"The logistics of such an operation are immense and we will continue to work closely with the 2M partners, Maersk Line and the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) to help achieve their objectives to supply the current high demand for Far East imports to UK consumers," Ashton said.