Largest containership to visit East Coast calls on Port of Virginia

The Port of Virginia handled the largest container ship to ever visit the East Coast on Monday, surpassing its previous record.

The CMA CGM Theodore Roosevelt has a capacity of 14,400 TEUs, or 20-foot equivalent units.

In May, the Cosco Development, a ship of 13,092 TEUs, stopped at the Port of Virginia, marking a new era of large containerships visiting the East Coast. Since then, the port has handled ships slightly larger than the Cosco Development.

Ocean carriers are increasingly using larger ships to improve efficiencies.

Nearly 3,000 containers were loaded on or off loaded from the Theodore Roosevelt at Virginia International Gateway (VIG) in Portsmouth, according to the port. The port’s leadership team hosted leaders from CMA CGM North America at VIG to recognize importance of the ship call.

The Theodore Roosevelt is part of a weekly Asia-to-U.S. East Coast service that includes 11 vessels ranging from 11,000 to 14,000 TEUs. Virginia is the first port of call on the East Coast in the service.

The ship passed through the Panama Canal last week. It will later visit the ports of Savannah, Ga.; Charleston, S.C.; and New York.

The Port of Virginia currently is undergoing projects worth $670 million to expand its two largest container terminals, including VIG and Norfolk International Terminals. It also is undergoing a re-evaluation study with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to dig its channel depths five feet deeper and widen a portion of a channel entering the port.