One of the largest container ships seen in the Bay berthed at the Port of Tauranga yesterday
afternoon.
The OOCL New Zealand - Orient Overseas Container Line - entered the harbour at 5pm,
sailing through smooth seas and clear skies.
The huge vessel - 261m long - can carry 4578 containers and
is one of the biggest container ships on a regular run to New Zealand. Until now, the largest ships carried 4100 containers.
The ship celebrated its maiden call in New Zealand at Auckland earlier this month before arriving in Tauranga last night.
Port of Tauranga operations manager Nigel Drake celebrated the ship's first visit to the Bay.
"This is really good from our point of view - it will give importing and exporting more capacity. It will mean there is more cargo in the port and, hopefully, more of these type and size ships will come here."
The vessel will carry a mix of cargo for import and export, which could include televisions and fridges to frozen meat.
The OOCL is on the NZS service line to Port Kelang, Malaysia.
The vessel was completed earlier this year and has a gross tonnage of 40,168t, and a service speed of 24.5 knots.
IN WEDNESDAY'S BAY OF PLENTY TIMES: Business editor Graham Skellern goes on board the OOCL
