Biggest ship is 40 buses long

The French flagged CMA CGM Christophe Colomb is capable of carrying an astonishing 13,344 containers on its 365.5m long deck at any one time.

One of the largest ships afloat anywhere in the world, her arrival in Southampton is further evidence of the port’s ability to handle the latest generation of giant vessels, known as “post panamax” because they are too big to fit through the old Panama Canal.

In order to handle ships of such scale, the port is in the process of replacing its quayside cranes with larger versions capable of reaching across decks as wide a as a football pitch. Four are already in place with two more on order and others certain to follow, along with new deep dredging, in an investment programme already topping £30m.

A flagship of French container company CMA CGM’s vast 352-strong fleet, it’s the Cristophe Colomb’s first visit to Southampton. She comfortably smashes the port’s previous record, held by the CMA CGM Andromeda, which first called at the terminal in April 2009, and has a capacity of 11,400 containers, at a length of 363m.

Built by Daewoo in Korea in November last year to serve on a route linking the Asian manufacturing giants with European consumers, the Christophe Colomb is not only noteworthy for her giant size.

An advanced design, the ship uses a combination of advanced engines and sleek design to slash fuel usage along with a range of anti-pollution measures to reduce her impact on the environment.

Chris Lewis managing director of DP World Southampton said: “We are looking forward to welcoming CMA CGM Christophe Colomb, her captain and crew to Southampton during their record breaking call to the terminal.

“The size and scale of this mega-vessel supports our business need to invest in super post-panamax cranes and to take our berths down deeper – we need to grow and invest in line with our customers.”

The CMA CGM Christophe Colomb is expected at berth 205 at around 9.15pm tonight.

(* Echo standard measurement)