One of the world’s largest vessels made its maiden voyage port call at Malta’s Freeport Terminal yesterday.

The Dutch flag container-ship Matz Maersk is the 9th vessel of the Triple E series built for A.P. Moller, Maersk Group in 2014. For a while it was essentially the largest ship in the world, with a capacity of 18,270 24-foot equivalent units (TEU), until even larger ships built in 2015 surpassed its size. 

The name "Triple E" is derived from the class's three design principles: "Economy of scale, Energy efficient, and Environmentally improved". These ships are not only the world's longest ships in service, but also the most efficient container ships per TEU of cargo.

Triple-E vessels, which broke the world record in container ship capacity without requiring more engine power, are designed and optimised for lower speeds. These vessels reduce CO2 emissions by 35 per cent per container moved, compared to industry average on the Asia-Europe trade.

Matz Maersk arrived from the Far East via the Suez Canal, prior to crossing the Atlantic. It will now head on to Felixstowe, UK.

Matz Maersk is 399 metres long and 59 metres wide. It has a draught of 16.5 metres, a deadweight tonnage of 196,000 tons, and a maximum 18,270 TEU capacity. The average vessel capacity handled at Malta Freeport Terminal is 15,000.

With the delivery of new cranes in late 2015, the Freeport has been able to effectively handle vessels of 18,000 TEU and over. Malta is the only hub in the Mediterranean capable of handling such large vessels.

The Maersk Line is the world’s largest container shipping company, operating 605 container vessels. It is represented in Malta by the Thomas Smith Group.