Le Havre : The Port of Le Havre has received for the first time, the APL Le Havre, a giant vessel of more than 10,100 TEUs capacity, which had left the shipyard of Hyundai Heavy Industries on May 21, 2012.
It is a new ship that "symbolises the prevailing position of sea giants on the route between Asia and the Port of Le Havre," said an official release.
The APL Le Havre directly connects the ports of Ningbo, Shanghai, Yantian and Singapore with Le Havre, the French facility being the first port of call in Europe.
The giant vessel, 349 metres long and 45 metres broad, was received at the 'Terminal de France' in subsequent to which 4 gantry cranes commenced the unloading and loading operations.
Further, APL has recently joined an alliance with other five world top shipping lines Hyundai, MOL, OOCL, NYK and Hapag Lloyd on six shipping services connecting Europe.
"This state-of-the-art ship will provide regular service keeping Le Havre as the first inbound European port called at from Asia, which shows the permanent will of APL and its partners to give a favourable position to Le Havre among major European ports," said Mr Bernard Mazuel, General Manager of APL France.
With 800 reefer plugs, the APL Le Havre has the necessary equipment to carry temperature-controlled goods. The vessel also meets the highest environmental standards, the release highlighted.
