7 October 2021 03:14 am
Ports and Shipping Minister Rohitha Abeygunawardena, SLPA Chairman Capt. Nihal Keppitipola, Hemas Group CEO Kasturi Chellaraja, ship’s captain and other dignitaries pose for a photo in front of Ever Ace
Pix by Nimalsiri Edirisinghe
Ever Ace, the world’s largest container ship, that docked at the Colombo International Container Terminal (CICT) of the Colombo Port, set sail to Malaysia, midnight, yesterday. The container ship, which is part of Evergreen Line, called at the Colombo Port late evening on October 5. The vessel arrived from Felixstowe, Suffolk.
Speaking to Mirror Business, Hemas Director Maritime Cluster Mushin Kitchilan said that the operation of Ever Ace reached completion as scheduled and was all geared to set sail to complete its maiden loop route. Hemas Maritime is the shipping agent for Evergreen Line in Sri Lanka.
According to the schedule of Ever Ace, the vessel will arrive at the Port of Tanjung Pelepas, Malaysia, on October 11, before heading toward the major international port and industrial city in the southwest of Taiwan, Kaohsiung.
The container ship is slated to complete its first round trip within 75 days. However, it is likely to face delays depending on the status and condition of the ports it will dock at.
Ever Ace is the first of Evergreen Line’s 24,000-TEU class container ships. The A-type vessel is around 400 meters in length and 61.5 meters wide, has a design draft of 14.5 meters and can cruise at speeds up to 22.6 knots. It has a nominal carrying capacity of 23,992 TEUs.
The vessel was delivered on July 28, 2021 and deployed on Evergreen Line’s CEM service in Asia–Europe trade, calling at Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, Taipei Port, Yantian, Rotterdam, Hamburg and Felixstowe on her maiden voyage.
The ship is equipped with various eco-friendly and fuel-efficient designs, the EverGreen website highlighted.
As part of Evergreen Line’s fleet renewal plan, the carrier has ordered 12 A-type container ships. In addition to Ever Ace, her 11 sister ships of similar capacity are planned to join Evergreen Line’s Asia-Europe service upon delivery.
Ever Ace is expected back at the Colombo Port in the latter part of December, this year.