Hutchison Ports BEST hosts 23K+TEU behemoth

Hutchison Ports BEST container terminal in the Port of Barcelona has become the port’s first terminal to welcome a 23K+ TEU vessel.

The milestone was marked with the arrival of the 23,656 TEU MSC Sixin, the second biggest vessel in the world. The ship is operated by Mediterranean Shipping Company, and deployed on an Asia-North Europe service under the 2M Alliance.

“The arrival of MSC Sixin at Barcelona is the start of a new era in our container sea trade,” said Guillermo Belcastro, CEO of Hutchison Ports BEST.

“MSC Sixin operating at BEST is symbolic of the effort of both shipping lines and port operators who continue to work together, in spite of the current social and economic world situation, pushing efficiency levels to even higher standards to enable goods to arrive at their destination.”

Hutchison Ports BEST is the only container terminal in Barcelona with a depth of at least 16 meters – the whole length of its 1,500-meter berth- allowing for ultra large ships to berth.

The semi-automated terminal is equipped with mega cranes capable of serving simultaneously multiple mega-vessels with a very high operational performance rate per crane.

Usually, operations of 10,000 moves can be completed in a couple of days, a huge contrast when compared to more than 4 to 5 days in other ports, the port operator said.

It is used to operating with up to 8 cranes simultaneously which under the control of nGen, Hutchison Ports’ terminal control system, can achieve productivities per crane of over 40 moves per hour.

High operational efficiency enables operators to achieve significant reductions in terms of transit time, port costs, and CO2 emissions due to fuel consumption.