CMA CGM Marco Polo

USPA NEWS - The Marco Polo, is the largest container ship to ever call on  the east coast of North America, arrived in the Port of Halifax on Monday night from South Asia. With a length that´s equal to nearly three-and-a-half football fields, the Marco Polo attracted a lot of attention by interested spectators.

The CMA CGM Marco Polo is 396 metres long and can carry the equivalent of 16,022, 20-foot long containers. The Port of Halifax container berth is 800 metres long, after a recent extension of the port's south-end container terminal and is the only port on Canada's east coast that can accommodate this "ultra-class" container ship. 

Premier Iain Rankin was among the many curious onlookers who came to see the massive vessel on Tuesday and said,  "Big ships represented jobs and opportunities and the ship was being loaded with Nova Scotia blueberries, potatoes and other fresh produce for ports abroad." Rankin  later  went on to say in a tweet, "It is the biggest cargo ship ever to call at a Canadian port and is here because of our great infrastructure and naturally deep-water harbour."

Lane Farguson spokesperson for the Halifax Port Authority said, “For Halifax it´s exciting and it´s important for us to be able to be a part of taking these ships because it´s so big, if it wasn´t calling here in Halifax, it wouldn´t be calling at any Canadian port.  Farguson went on to say, "Similar to other container ships that arrive in Halifax,  more than 60 per cent of the cargo would be loaded immediately onto rail and is destined for Quebec, Ontario and the American mid-west. Farguson concluded by saying, "We're really excited about this ship coming in and really what it means for Halifax and its place in the international shipping community."

Along with being the largest cargo ship to ever visit Canada, the Marco Polo will break several other North American records as it continues down the east coast. Once it´s finished in Halifax, the ship will continue to ports in New York, Virginia, Georgia, and South Carolina.