On March 16, 2012, Fabiola docked at the Port of Long Beach, breaking earlier records for the largest container ship at a U.S. port, and at any North American port. It is 1,200 feet long.
The March 16 arrival of the massive ship Fabiola at the Port of Long Beach serves as a wake-up call to West Coast ports: The old ways of handling container ships are over.
To maintain their market share in the competitive trans-Pacific trades, West Coast ports will have to offer deep channels, large marine terminals, the latest in computer technology and automated cargo-handling systems to minimize the time the big ships remain in port. They’ll also have to streamline the transfer of containers from vessels to intermodal trains.
Long Beach will correct those hindrances, with a new bridge scheduled for construction and a wider turning basin and deeper berth also scheduled for development. The message to West Coast ports is clear: Container lines will deploy ever-larger ships in their trans-Pacific fleets, and ports must offer the physical capacity to handle the vessels, and the technology and automation to turn them quickly.
