CMA CGM KERGUELEN
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
CMA CGM Kerguelen to dock in Southampton for 24 hours
The largest British-registered ship is due to arrive in Southampton as part of its maiden voyage later.
The CMA CGM Kerguelen can carry 17,722 20ft (6m) containers and is 398m (1,305ft) long and 54m (177ft) wide.
It is the third-largest ship in the world and is calling at DP World Southampton's container terminal as its first and only UK stop on its maiden voyage.
The Kerguelen is due to leave Southampton on Thursday.
It has the capacity to transport almost 200,000 tonnes of goods, carrying items ranging from clothes and televisions to sofas and washing machines.
It will arrive in the UK from the French port of Le Havre, where it was inaugurated, and will travel to Hamburg next.
Southampton's deep water berth, SCT 5, was specifically built to accommodate ultra-large container ships such as this one.
The ship is named after the 18th Century French navigator Yves Joseph de Kerguelen de Trémarec.
CMA CGM is a French company and the ship was built in South Korea at Samsung Heavy Industries' shipyard.
As of January the largest ship in the world is the MSC Oscar, which is a few metres shorter than the Kerguelen but can carry 19,224 standard containers.
How big?
• The ship is longer than four football pitches, or five-and-a-half A380 Airbus planes
• At 398m (1,305ft), it is longer than the Empire State Building (381m, 1,250 ft) is tall
• Its engine is as powerful as 900 Renault Megane cars
• If all the containers it could carry were placed end to end they would stretch for 67 miles (109km)
Source: DP World, Southampton
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