Port Everglades celebrated the arrival of the largest cargo ship to ever visit the port today, with the arrival of the MSC Vandya. However, the water depth restrictions mean that the MSC Vandya was lightly loaded.
The MSC Vandya is 143,521 gross tons, 1,200.2-feet long and has the capability to carry 13,050 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent unit, or TEU, is the standard measurement of cargo containers). Currently, 8,000 TEUs is the highest number of TEUs that a ship coming into Port Everglades can carry due to current water depth restrictions.
For the past 30 years, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been working on the Port Everglades Navigation Improvements Project (PENIP) to deepen and widen Port Everglades navigation channels to enable the safe passage of newer, larger and more sustainable ships. The project was authorized by Congress in December 2016. The port is continuing to work with its federal and state partners to move this project forward. It remains critical to retaining global business partners and reducing delays in the supply chain that feeds, clothes and fuels our region.
The PENIP calls for deepening the main channel from 42 feet to 48 feet with two feet extra overdepth for a total of 50 feet and widening the Intracoastal Waterway by the U.S. Coast Guard Station where there is a chokepoint.
The MSC Vandya was diverted to Port Everglades as part of MSC’s Dragon Service to the Far East. During this call, approximately 1,300 containers were anticipated to be moved off the ship and empty containers loaded for transport to Asia. Port Everglades Terminals LLC (PET) is the container terminal operator handling the ship.
