A vessel operated by COSCO Shipping Lines has called at the Baltic Hub container terminal in the Port of Gdańsk for the first time in two years. CSCL Globe arrived as part of the new AEU7 container service.

The 400-metre container ship CSCL Globe called at the Baltic Hub container terminal in the Port of Gdańsk at dawn on 24 September. The name COSCO Shipping is displayed on the vessel’s blue-painted hull. The line has now resumed calls at Gdańsk as part of the AEU7 service, linking the Polish port with the Far East.

This does not mean that COSCO has been absent from Gdańsk over the past two years. Other services operated within the Ocean Alliance, whose members are CMA CGM, OOCL, COSCO and Evergreen, have continued to call at the largest port on the Baltic Sea. Ships operated by COSCO Shipping Lines have therefore continued to arrive at the port, but they did not display the carrier’s colours.

The AEU7 (Asia-Europe United 7) service is effectively COSCO’s second direct connection between Baltic Hub and the Far East, alongside AEU1. The service is offered as part of the Ocean Alliance. Its full rotation covers Gdańsk, Rotterdam, Zeebrugge, Port Klang, Shanghai, Xiamen, Hong Kong, Yantian, Cai Mep, Singapore, Felixstowe, Rotterdam, Hamburg and Gdańsk again. As a result, the service gives the Port of Gdańsk, for the first time, a direct container connection with Vietnam, Malaysia and Hong Kong, among other destinations.

The direct connection with Cai Mep in Vietnam appears to be partly a distant result of promotional activities carried out by the Port of Gdańsk Authority in Vietnam, including a Business Mixer event organised two years ago in Ho Chi Minh City, located close to the port of Cai Mep.

The new AEU7 service was inaugurated in September, when OOCL Japan called at Baltic Hub. The Port of Gdańsk said the service would provide greater availability of direct maritime transport and additional opportunities for organising supply chains between Poland and the rapidly developing Asian markets.

CSCL Globe itself is the first of a series of five vessels ordered by CSCL (China Shipping Container Lines – the company was absorbed by COSCO during the 2016 reorganisation) from Hyundai Heavy Industries. When it entered service in November 2014, it was the world’s largest container ship by capacity, with a capacity of 19,100 TEU. In addition, the MAN engine installed on the vessel was the largest marine engine in history at the time of its completion, measuring 17 metres in height.

The vessel has an overall length of 400 metres, a maximum breadth of 59 metres and a summer draught of 16 metres. Its deadweight is 184,605 DWT, while its gross tonnage is 187,541 GT. The vessel has a crew of 23.

CSCL Globe embarked on her maiden voyage from Shanghai in December 2014 and called at the UK port of Felixstowe on 7 January. Interestingly, in the same month she also lost her title as the world’s largest container ship, when MSC Oscar surpassed her capacity by 124 TEU.

Photos: GospodarkaMorska.pl