Megaship Benjamin Franklin to Call at Seattle and Long Beach
By Aiswarya Lakshmi
Wednesday, February 17, 2016
In a history-making run, the largest container ship CMA CGM Benjamin Franklin will arrive in Seattle Monday, Feb. 29 after visits in Long Beach and Oakland, California. It will visit Long Beach Thursday bringing goods from China.
Although the event is not public, people should be able to see the ship from the waterfront area east of the Long Beach Convention Center, and from sections of Alamitos Beach, said Art Wong, a Port of Long Beach spokesman.
The 1,310-foot-long container vessel of CMA CGM called at the Port of Oakland after leaving Los Angeles in December, then sailed to China on Jan. 4. It reached Xiamen, China Jan. 30, later calling at the ports of Nansha, Hong Kong and Yantian before leaving for Long Beach Feb. 4. It will stay in Long Beach until Feb. 24.
Ben Franklin makes its return to the Port of Oakland Feb. 26. Port officials confirmed today that Oakland will be one of three stops on the Franklin’s second U.S. visit. The largest vessel ever to call in this country, the Franklin will also stop in Long Beach and Seattle. It first arrived in Oakland New Year’s Eve on its maiden voyage.
West Seattle's Terminal 18 is equipped to handle the new class of Post Panamax ships (unlike Terminal 5 which has yet to be upgraded) which in the case of the Benjamin Franklin can carry 18,000 containers.
The CMA CGM Benjamin Franklin is longer than the Empire State Building is tall, wider than a football field and as tall as a 20-story building.