The shipping vessel Eileen, a bulk cargo ship with a draught of 11.5 meters sailing under the flag of Panama, berthed at Sanfeng Port Terminal in Jingjiang in East China's Jiangsu province on April 7, and became the largest foreign cargo ship to berth at Jingjiang port.
A photo of the bulk cargo ship Eileen. [Photo by Zhang Wenzhou/WeChat ID: jingjiangfabu]
The vessel has an overall length of around 225 meters, a width of 32.25 meters, and can carry 53,000 metric tons of iron ore.
Tang Renkang, head of the pilotage business department of Jingjiang Pilot Station, said that after receiving the pilotage application, the station gave full play to the advantages of pilotage technology, formulated a detailed entry plan and an emergency plan, and dispatched senior maritime pilot Wang Rongda to lead the team to implement plans.
At the same time, it cooperates with local maritime authorities to ensure the safe berthing of the ship, Tang said.
The maximum draught of the foreign vessels berthing in Jingjiang Port was 11.36 meters, but with the successful berthing of the vessel Eileen, it set a new maximum draught record for foreign ships entering the port.
In addition, this laid the foundation for the normalization of berthing for heavy-haul ships with a draught of 11.5 meters in the future, which can greatly improve the cargo throughput capacity of the port, officials said.