MSC Sofia Celeste first neopanamax to sail to London's Tilbury Dock

Time:2016-08-19 Browse:83 Author:RISINGSUN
THE first neopanamax vessel to call at London Container Terminal (LCT) at London`s Tilbury Dock 

There the Mediterranean Shipping Company`s (MSC) 8,819-TEU Sofia Celeste tied up after transiting the expanded Panama Canal for the first time deployed on a service linking the west coast of South America to the east coast of North America and northwest Europe.

The Port of Tilbury is London`s biggest port serving a market of 18 million people living within 120 kilometres. The LCT is the UK`s largest reefer terminal, which came in handy given the 2014-dottage Sofia Celeste can carry 1,462 TEU reefers. 

"The MSC Sofia Celeste marks a change for Tilbury`s customers offering much improved links to the growing South American and transatlantic market,?said LCT chief commercial officer Ross McKissock.

According to MSC`s commercial import general manager Natasha Griffin, the shipping line aims to further develop services of this kind in future. 

The Sofia Celeste is the first to be deployed on MSC`s new South America west coast-US-northwest continent service, which also visits ports in Chile, Peru, Ecuador, the Bahamas, Philadelphia and then Rotterdam. 

Tilbury handles a wide range of cargo with specialist expertise in paper and forest products, containers and ro-ro, grain and bulk commodities, and construction and building materials.