Jebel Ali Port welcomes its biggest 'guest' in 30-year history

Dubai:DP World's flagship port, the Jebel Ali Port, recently welcomed Grete MAERSK, one of the biggest ships ever handled by the port in its 30-year history.

Representatives of DP World and MAERSK shipping line held a ceremony aboard the ship to celebrate its maiden voyage to Jebel Ali Port.

Grete Maersk, measuring 367 meters in length, is the longest ship to arrive at the Jebel Ali Port. The ship, with a width of 43 meters and draft of 15 meters, has a capacity of approximately 8,200 TEUs (20-foot equivalent unit) and a Gross Register Tonnage (GRT) of approximately 98,000 tons.

The ship berthed at quay 4 at Jebel Ali Port and was handled by four of the port's largest tandem lift gantries, which are the biggest of their kind in the world.

Jebel Ali Port has recently undergone a major expansion, which has led to the construction of a new container terminal (Terminal 2) that will add more than 5 million TEUs to the overall capacity of the port by February 2009, raising the total capacity of Jebel Ali Port to 14 million TEUs.