Fabiola takes over ‘largest’ trophy

Just recently alongside berth 105 at the Pier 1 container terminal at the Port of Durban was the largest containership ever to call at an SA port – the 12 562-TEU MSC Fabiola. As recently as March 2012 she also carried the honour of being the largest containership ever to dock in North America when she berthed at California’s Port of Long Beach. She takes over the Durban record from the 11 660-TEU MSC Luciana – which won the trophy only a month ago. Chartered by the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) and owned by Peter Döhle Schiffahrtsgesellschaft in Hamburg, Germany, the Fabiola shifted on March 2012 from her initial Asia-to-Europe service to begin the trans- Pacific service. She has now been redeployed to sail on MSC’s Pendulum service which runs from North Europe to Cape Town, Ngqura, Durban, then on to Singapore – from where she returns on the Durban, Ngqura, North Europe westbound leg. The route will mainly be serviced by vessels in the 9 000-10 000 TEU range, according to MSC SA’s marketing director, Glenn Delve, but there will also be some of these bigger ships like the Fabiola and the Luciana on the route. These are cascading down from the main trades of Asia- Europe and transPacific from Asia to the US. On the Asia- Europe route the megaships now range in the 14 000-16 000 TEU capacity. The current world record of 16 000 is held by the CMA CGM ships, the Marco Polo, Jacques Cartier and the Alexander von Humboldt. But this record will be well surpassed in June, when rival Maersk Line is planning to launch the first of 20 Triple-E class ships – all able to take 18 000 TEUs. This new 16 000-18 000- TEU class of vessels on this main trade will see some more of MSC’s 12 500-14 000- TEU superships joining the Pendulum fleet soon, Delve added. But the freight industry is questioning the economy of these megaships on the SA route. The problem with these post- Panamax ships is their draught fully laden – and, in the case of the Fabiola, this is 15.5 metres. Although the Durban port entrance channel has a depth of 19m, decreasing to 16.5m inside the entrance, the berths are currently restricted to a depth of 12.8m. This means that any of these large ships have to sail in and out lightly loaded, which is seen by industry observers as reducing the vessels’ economy. Add to that the fuel cost. The MSC vessels of 9 000- 10 000 TEU capacity use 230 tonnes of fuel a day. In the Fabiola-size this jumps up to 260t-270t – or up to 17.5% more expensive to run. But, on the Pendulum service, said Delve, the overall economies of scale justify using them. “It gives us the opportunity to load 5 000-6 000 containers in SA,” he said, “and means that Pendulum can serve both SA, and Southern Africa in general, through Durban and Ngqura. “We’re well satisfied with what we get out of these ships.” CAPTION The 12 562-TEU MSC Fabiola … redeployed to sail on MSC’s Pendulum service.