The 399,9-meter HMM Algeciras, built at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering's (DMSE) Okpo shipyard in Geoje, South Korea, has a capacity of 23,964 TEU and is the first of 12 vessels of the same class, design and size contracted by DSME and Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI).

The mega ship delivered in April is deployed on the Far East Europe 4 (FE4) service, one of THE Alliance's Asia-North Europe trading lanes, with its port rotation starting at Qingdao, Busan, Ningbo, Shanghai, Yantian, Suez Canal, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Antwerp, London Gateway, then Singapore via Suez Canal.

Admiral Osama Rabie, Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority (SCA), assured that a number of highly qualified SCA pilots were appointed to provide the required navigational aids, such as escort tug boats and real-time transit surveillance from the Central Traffic Control Office and numerous traffic control stations via the New Suez Canal, moving from Yantian into Rotterdam.

Admiral Rabie assigned SCA Distinguished Senior Pilot, Capt. Hisham Fawzy, and Capt. Medhat El-Naggar, First Senior Pilot, to board the vessel and greet his crew as well as to give a commemorative gift to the Shipmaster, Capt. Jon Kiun.

Maritime Business World