The CMA CGM Theodore Roosevelt, a Neopanamax containership, is the largest capacity vessel to ever transit the Expanded Locks of the Panama Canal.
The CMA CGM Theodore Roosevelt has a Total TEU Allowance (TTA) of 14,855 and measures 365.9 m in length and 48.2 m in beam. To put the scale of this enormous ship into perspective, its length is roughly the equivalent of laying end to end two Great Pyramids of Giza, four Big Bens, or eight Statues of Liberty.
OCEAN Alliance
The Neopanamax containership is deployed on the new OCEAN Alliance's weekly South Atlantic Express (SAX) service, which connects Asia and U.S. East Coast ports via the Panama Canal. The SAX service is composed of eleven vessels ranging in size from 11,000 to 14,000 TEUs, including vessels which also transited the Expanded Canal earlier in May becoming the largest capacity ships to do so at time.
Port Investments
The CMA CGM Theodore Roosevelt began its voyage in Shanghai and will soon call on ports along the U.S. East Coast. Stops will include Norfolk, Savannah, and Charleston, all of which have made investments to accommodate the larger vessels now able to transit the Expanded Canal.
For this voyage, the CMA CGM Theodore Roosevelt will also call on the Port of New York and New Jersey, which recently completed a four year, $1.6 billion project to raise the Bayonne Bridge to 215 ft. The move will allow the nation's third-largest port for the first time to accept ships larger than 9500 TEU to reach three of its four main terminals.
Saving Emissions
By traveling through Panama, the vessel saved 29,561 tons of CO2 in bypassing the Cape of Good Hope. Emission reductions have been a key focus of the Expanded Canal, which celebrated its one-year anniversary in June. In its first year of operation, the Expanded Canal contributed to the reduction of 17 million tons of CO2 thanks to the shorter traveling distance and larger cargo carrying capacity.
13,000 Vessels
Looking forward to the 2018 fiscal year, which begins on 1 October, the Panama Canal Authority is projected to accommodate approximately 13,000 vessels, including 2335 Neopanamax vessels for a record tonnage of 429.4 million Panama Canal tons (PC/UMS).
Picture by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP).
