The biggest container ship seen in Tauranga sailed into port this morning. The 281m long Maersk Dacatur _ more than two lengths of a rugby field _ slipped quietly in to port about 8am and will leave tomorrow morning. It's not quite the longest vessel to enter Pilot Bay _ the cruiseships Queen Elizabeth II and Diamond Princess are 294m and 290m long respectively. The Dacatur, which carries up to 4100 6-metre equivalent containers, will be berthed at the Sulphur Point container wharf for 24 hours. During that time, the port crew was to offload imported cargo and loaded exports will be taken via the Panama Canal to the east coast of the United States and northern Europe. It is the start of the newly formed Maersk Line's weekly service that also includes Auckland and Port Chalmers. Maersk Sealand and P & O Nedlloyd have recently combined to become the largest shipping line in the world. It is also the first time Port of Tauranga has handled a shipping service of this size. The Dacatur has been here before. In May 2002 it arrived on a test run under its previous name P & O Nedlloyd Encounter to make sure it could easily berth alongside the wharf. Port of Tauranga chief executive Mark Cairns said the port was well placed to handle the large vessels, both operationally and physically. He said the new service would increase the shipping options from Tauranga to other ports around the world.
