Clearing the Talmadge Bridge by what seemed like inches to those watching from water level, the ZIM containership Tianjin — the largest ever to call on our port — sailed up the Savannah River on Wednesday morning, docking at Georgia Ports Authority’s Garden City Terminal.
At 1,145 feet long and 150 feet wide, the massive ship is capable of carrying more than 10,000 TEUs, or 20-foot container units.
GPA executive director Curtis Foltz said the ship represents the future of U.S.-Asia shipping.
“The Tianjin is another example of a growing trend in the ocean carrier business toward larger, more efficient vessels,” Foltz said in a statement.
If stood on end, the ship would be nearly as tall as the Empire State Building, GPA spokesman Robert Morris said. Just 16 yards shy of the length of four football fields, the Tianjin originated in Qingdao, China, arriving in New York by way of the Suez Canal before heading to Savannah. From here, it will sail to Kingston, Jamaica.
GPA crews will make more than 2,000 container moves on and off the vessel during its time at dock.
Built in 2010, the Tianjin is Liberian-flagged and home-ported in Monrovia. It’s owned and operated by ZIM Integrated Shipping LTD, an Israeli-based company whose global reach extends to more than 120 companies and ports.
“The port call by the ZIM Tianjin is another example of the strong and long standing professional relationship between GPA and ZIM,” said ZIM Vice President Brian Black. “We are very excited to have the largest vessel call Savannah!”
Foltz said ships in the Tianjin’s class provide lower per-container costs for cargo owners and reduce the expense of delivering goods to customers at home and abroad.
“The economy of scale achieved by super post-Panamax vessels is the reason we’re seeing more of them in Savannah, a trend that will only continue after an expanded Panama Canal opens in 2016,” he said.
To better accommodate the bigger ships, the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project will deepen the main river channel to 47 feet at low tide (averaging 54 feet at high tide).
This month, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a $134.5 million contract that will mark the start of dredging. The contract covers deepening the outer harbor, from Fort Pulaski and extending 18.5 miles into the Atlantic Ocean.
Dredging the outer harbor constitutes about half of the project to deepen the 40-mile shipping channel and harbor from deep ocean to Garden City.
Georgia has approved $266 million in bonds to cover the state’s projected share of construction costs. As the $706 million expansion moves forward, construction funding will shift to federal dollars.