Biggest Container Ship to Visit US Barely Clears Golden Gate Bridge

The ship is easily the largest vessel to grace the waters of the Bay, surpassing the MSC Fabiola, which could carry 12,500 containers and arrived in Oakland in March 2012. Analysts, however, say US ports aren’t prepared to regularly handle the peaks in container activity that such megaships present.

The 1,300-foot-long Benjamin Franklin cargo ship heads for the Port of Oakland, as it passes under the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Dec. 31, 2015. The vessel will go under the Golden Gate Bridge on the same day, at approximately 9:30 am Pacific Time.

Making the port call was the decision of Jacques R. Saadé, Group Chairman and CEO of the vessel’s owner, Marseilles, France, headquartered CMA CGM.

CMA CGM has a fleet of 470 vessels shipping cargo to 40 commercial ports worldwide.

The arrival of Benjamin Franklin has many reasons to cheer as for the likely economic benefits to ports which will be included in its route in future.

Between Asia and the U.S. West Coast the average container ship size has risen 14% in the past two years, Drewry analysts wrote.

CMA CGM has launched a photo competition on Instagram to allow three winners to visit the ship mid-February in Long Beach. This represents our port’s ability to welcome the next generation of ships that will each contribute more to the economy and create more jobs nationwide, all while emitting [fewer] pollutants than the ships that came before them.

Oakland, one of only a handful of US ports that can receive megaships, has invested millions in changes including dredging berths and channels in depths of 50 feet, raising the heights of cranes and modernizing marine terminals, officials said. The $13.95 million project is scheduled to begin in April. Mega ships like the Benjamin Franklin are not only bigger, they are better than the ships that came before them with better energy efficiency and lower emissions.

“The arrival of this big ship is a good sign”, said Michael Zampa, a spokesman for the Port of Oakland.

Shipping company officials said they plan to use the ship in regular service connecting China with the West Coast of the U.S. “Oakland is ready to handle these large ships, and we will get a chance to prove it”.