A HUGE record-breaking vessel has entered the port of Southampton for the first time.

The CMA CGM Jacques Saade, the first container vessel to be powered by Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), can carry a total of 23,000 containers.

Leaving Singapore last month she set a new world record for the largest number of full containers loaded on to a single vessel - 20,723.

The CMA CGM Group's new flagship is 400 metres long - making her longer than the Eiffel Tower is tall - and 61 metres wide. She is also environmentally-friendly.

LNG is "clean" energy that is currently considered the least polluting type of fossil fuel.

Marc Olazabal, operations manager at E&W Lines, which directs the Group's operations, said: "To carry so many containers we have to be able to stack them ten or 11 high on the deck, giving rise to strict constraints linked to the vessel’s structure and how containers are stowed.

"The vessel is so well designed that we were able to pile containers of more than ten tons in a ten--high stack, which is outstanding.”

The DP World container terminal in Southampton is the vessel's first port of call in north-west Europe. She is due to leave later this week.