Built in South Korea in 2009 and operated by the Mediterranean Shipping Co. of Switzerland, the Beatrice is the latest of the new generation of big container ships to be put into service on U.S.-Asia trade routes. It is due to depart Long Beach on Wednesday for the Port of Oakland.
The largest container ship to visit North America docked Sunday at the Port of Long Beach.
The MSC Beatrice – at 1,200 feet long, 167 feet wide and capable of carrying 13,798 container units – docked in the early morning at Long Beach’s Pier T on Terminal Island.
Until this year, the largest container ships serving North America had capacities of about 10,000 “TEUs,” or twenty-foot equivalent units. Ships carrying up to 12,500 TEUs began calling at the Port of Long Beach early this year. The Port of Long Beach’s main channel is 76 feet deep, the deepest in North America, according to port officials.