The 87,052dwt bulker Alam Penting broke records when she arrived on the Tyne from New Orleans on 4 August. At 229m long, the ship is the largest cargo vessel ever to berth at the Port of Tyne, and carried 75,000 tonnes of coal, the biggest volume ever handled on the river. She will also set a new record for the deepest draft, 12.8m, of any ship.
The Port of Tyne has just completed an intensive dredging campaign, deepening the river to 13m at its main operational berths, putting the Port in the league of deepest ports in the UK and Europe and making the Tyne deeper than ever before. During August a succession of increasingly deep-draught coal-carrying vessels called at the Port. First was Harmony Express, then Bariloche, followed by Alam Penting which is deeper again.
Steven Harrison, Chief Operating Officer at the Port of Tyne says: “Deepening the river is essential to enable the Port of Tyne to compete against other European ports and continue to expand to accommodate large fully-laden panamax ships. The industry trend is for large ships to carry larger cargos. This provides economies of scale for customers importing and exporting goods.’
