Melbourne’s VICT welcomes the largest container vessel ever to dock in Australia

The CMA CGM Pelleas is deployed on the A3C service, which starts and finishes in Taiwan after a round trip via China then on to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

Victoria International Container Terminal (VICT) is marking a significant milestone with the arrival of the super-sized ship, the M/V CMA CGM Pelleas, which has docked at the Port of Melbourne.

At 350 meters in length, the container vessel is the largest ever to dock in Australia. The ship is nearly 43 meters wide and has a carrying capacity of just under 10,000 TEUs.

VICT’s chief executive officer, Bruno Porchietto, says that super-sized vessels like the CMA CGM Pelleas are likely to become more common at the VICT terminal.

“There is a global trend by shipping lines toward the use of larger ships, which are more efficient due to their carrying capacity,” Mr. Porchietto says.

“We are very proud to welcome this ship as the largest yet to dock in Australia, and we are thankful to our client partners ANL and CMA CGM for their continued confidence in our facility.

It’s a strong signal of where the future lies for the Port of Melbourne and VICT – by the end of the year, our facility will be capable of docking two of these vessels or even larger simultaneously.”

Mr. Porchietto says the VICT facility located at Webb Dock has significant advantages due to its location over the legacy terminals at Swanson Dock.

“Because our operations sit at the entrance to the Port our facility can easily accommodate these larger vessels that are unable to sail further down into Melbourne’s Yarra River due to length and height restrictions.”

Meanwhile, VICT’s expansion project at the Port of Melbourne is making good progress following the arrival of two new quay cranes from China. The cranes are the largest in Australia and form part of a AUD235 million expansion that will boost VICT’s capacity up to 1.25 million TEUs when it is completed in late 2023. 

VICT’s parent company, ICTSI has so far invested more than AUD1 billion in its Melbourne operations, making the company one of the largest non-government infrastructure investors in Australia.