Drewry: US West Coast not ready for mega-ships

Following the news that the 18,000-teu CMA CGM Benjamin Franklin will call at the Port of Los Angeles becoming the largest containership to call in the US, industry analyst Drewry claimed US West Coast ports are not ready to handle Ultra Large Container Vessels (ULCVs) regularly.

According to the analyst, West Coast ports have much work to do to improve productivity before being in the position to see ULCVs call on “anything other than an ad-hoc basis”.

The French carrier’s new ship, which will call at the port on December 26, will join the Asia-US West Coast ‘Pearl River Express’ service, part of the company’s Ocean Three network, which usually operates with 11,400 teu ships.