Posted on August 21, 2023
Arrival of 15,432-TEU Container Ship Evergreen Ever Max Shows the Port’s Ability to Accommodate the World’s Largest Ships
(BALTIMORE, MD) – The Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore today welcomed the largest container ship ever to visit Maryland with the arrival of the Evergreen Ever Max at Seagirt Marine Terminal. The vessel weighs 165,350 tons and has the capacity to handle 15,432 Twenty-foot Equivalent (TEU) containers. Maryland’s Port is capable of accommodatingmassive container shipsbecause of its infrastructure: the Port of Baltimore has a 50-foot-deep channel and an array of the ultra-large, Neo-Panamax cranes needed to serve a vessel of this size.
“It’s no secret why these massive container ships want to call on the Port of Baltimore,” said Maryland Transportation Secretary Paul J. Wiedefeld. “They know Maryland’s Port is a valuable resource and a terrific partner in moving goods efficiently across the state and throughout the region.”
At about 1,200 feet in length, the Ever Max is longer than four football fields. Previously, the largest container ship to visit the Port of Baltimore was another Evergreen vessel, the Triton, which first visited in 2019 and has a capacity of 14,424-TEU containers.
“Ships like the Evergreen Ever Max are able to come to the Port of Baltimore because of the work of every link in our supply chain,” said Maryland Port Administration – Port of Baltimore Interim Acting Executive Director Brian Miller. “From our great International Longshoremen’s Association to our incredible truckers, pilots, tugs, freight forwarders, terminal operators and private marine terminals, the Port of Baltimore succeeds because we all pull in the same direction.”
“Welcoming the new Evergreen vessel, Ever Max, to Seagirt Marine Terminal is an example of continued growth for the Port of Baltimore,” said Mark Schmidt, vice president and general manager of Ports America Chesapeake, which operates the Seagirt Marine Terminal. “Ever Maxwas completed this year, and comes to Baltimore from the Samsung shipyard in Korea.Thank youEvergreen, for adding vessel capacity to the Port of Baltimore.
The Port of Baltimore continues to have a strong 2023. The most recent figures through May show major commodities at the state-owned, public marine terminals such as roll-on/roll-off farm and construction equipment, containers and general cargo are all up year to date compared to 2022. Roll-on/roll-off cargo is up 30%, containers are up 10% and general cargo is up 8%.
The 2023 start follows an outstanding 2022, when the Port handled a record $74.3 billion in foreign cargo and established other new records for roll-on/roll-off, containers, general cargo and forest products despite worldwide supply chain issues.
The Port’s rising container business will be further buoyed by the ongoing CSX-owned Howard Street Tunnel expansion project in Baltimore, which will allow for double-stacked container rail cars, clearing a longtime hurdle for the Port and giving the East Coast seamless double-stack capacity from Maine to Florida. The project involves clearance improvements in the 127-year-old tunnel and at 21 other locations between Baltimore and Philadelphia. With the tunnel expansion project, Baltimore will be able to send double stacked containers by rail into the Ohio Valley and onto Chicago.
The Howard Street Tunnel project benefits from public-private investment from the federal government, Maryland, CSX, and others. It is scheduled to be completed in 2026, andis expected to increase the Port’s business by about 160,000 containers annually. It also will generate about 6,550 construction jobs and an additional 7,300 jobs from the increased business.
Maryland’s Port of Baltimore currently generates about 15,300 direct jobs, with nearly 140,000 jobs overall linked to Port activities. The Port ranks first among the nation’s ports for volume of autos and light trucks, roll on/roll off heavy farm and construction machinery, and imported gypsum. It ranks 11th among major U.S. ports for foreign cargo handled and ninth for total foreign cargo value.The Port is responsible for nearly $3.3 billion in personal wages and salaries, $2.6 billion in business revenues and $395 million in state and local tax revenues annually.
