The 9,200TEU MSC Aya called Port Botany in Australia, becoming the deepest and heaviest container ship ever calling at the Australian port. The 13-year old boxship called the port with a draught of 14.8 meters and a displacement of 140,252 tonnes.
Port Authority of New South Wales (NSW) Sydney Harbour Master, Myron Fernandes pointed out that the port handles ships of similar lengths and capacity regularly, but MSC Asya is the deepest and the heaviest containership yet to call at Port Botany.
The DUKC (Dynamic Under Keel Clearance) technology used by the Police Association of New South Wales (PANSW) facilitated accurate predictions of the under-keel clearance required to berth the ship safely by factoring in all the complex conditions required, dynamic motions of the vessel and live weather conditions.
Fernandes noted that an important aspect of this achievement is being able to safely manage ships with deeper draughts which means facilitating greater cargo-carrying capacity. “We’ve now proven that Port Botany can accommodate ships with similar draughts easily and safely,” he highlighted.
Peter O’Brien, CEO of OMC, the Australian maritime engineering company that developed DUKC technology, stated that as the container ships that call Australia get bigger, “being able to manage ports more efficiently and safely is increasingly important”, and thus, DUKC with its risk mitigation function allows port managers to bring larger vessels in and more safely.
“The recent record for the MSC Asya – understood to be the deepest ever container vessel into an Australian port – highlights how DUKC can enhance port efficiency whilst ensuring navigational safety for deep-draft vessels,” claimed O’Brien.
