This month, APM Terminals Gijón efficiently operated the largest container ship ever to call the Port of El Musel on Spain’s northern coast. The MSC KATYAYNI, a 275-metre long, 40-metre-wide vessel, berthed at the terminal for 33 hours, during which 740 containers were loaded and discharged. Improvements made to the terminal for the arrival of larger vessels will boost competitiveness for importers and exporters in northern Spain.

The arrival of a Post-Panamax QC903 ship-to-shore crane last year, combined with improvements to operational capacities as the result of Lean working methodologies adopted by APM Terminals globally, the terminal is now able to efficiently handle these larger vessels.

The new crane has a capacity for 40 tons of nominal load, 33 metres of height under spreader (eight more than the crane it replaces) and a 16-rows outreach (three more than the crane it replaces). For vessels exceeding 250 metres, the terminal offers a maximum draft of 10.2 metres.