Trial of Massive Container Ships Begins as OOCL Seoul welcomed at Port of Melbourne

At 325 metres long, weighing over 105,000 tonnes and with the capacity to carry over 8,000 containers at a time, the OOCL Seoul is the largest freight ship ever to arrive at Port of Melbourne.

Guided by 3 tug boats, it churned up a fair amount of sediment as it turned to position itself beside the cranes at Webb Dock when it arrived yesterday.

It is 129 metres longer than the Spirit of Tasmania, almost the length of 2 MCG’s but still 22 metres less than the Queen Mary 2 Cruise Ship, which will call Melbourne home instead of Sydney Harbour from next year.

The OOCL Seoul will not be holding its record for largest freight ship to arrive in Melbourne for much longer as a trial is about to get underway to test if similar and even larger freight ships could safely navigate through Port Phillip Heads, making their way beneath the Westgate Bridge and up the Yarra River to inland ports.

Victorian Ports Corporation CEO Rachel Johnson said “this is the next step in the evolution of the Port…we’re going to see more ships and more containers and doing that more productively and efficiently” which is great news for importers, exporters and primary producers.

Ports Minister Luke Donnellan said that it “will reduce costs over time, but this is very much the start of that process”.

It won’t be long before we see longer 336-metre container ships sailing through Port Phillip Bay as part of the trial.

Photo by Nine