Puerto Aguadulce begins 2020 operations with the largest vessel ever to call Colombia; APL Esplanade is the largest vessel ever to arrive in Colombia

A new event confirms Buenaventura as a strategic port city for Colombia and its foreign trade.  Coming from Asia, the large-scale vessel, APL Esplanade, recently arrived at Puerto Aguadulce with a capacity of 13,892 twenty foot equivalent units (TEUs).  After Colombia, its journey continues to other ports in South America.

With a length of 369 meters, equivalent to approximately four professional soccer fields and a width of 51 meters, this vessel has the largest physical dimensions to call at any Colombian terminal. The event highlights the importance, capacity and competitiveness of Buenaventura Port, located close to Colombia’s major urban areas such as Bogotá, Medellín and Cali.

“The shipping companies continue to build larger and larger capacity vessels. For Puerto Aguadulce, receiving this type of vessel is an honor and a great responsibility. We work continuously under our vision of being a strategic ally of the Colombian economy.  At the end of last year, we received what is now, after APL Esplanade, the second largest capacity container vessel that has docked in the country.  These calls confirm that Puerto Aguadulce is a terminal with global service standards, technology, infrastructure and security,” said Miguel Abisambra, Puerto Aguadulce general manager.  

APL Esplanade sails on the CMA CGM group’s Asia Central South America (ACSA1) service, which links East Asia with Central and South America. CMA CGM is a French shipping and container transport company and one of the world's leading companies in container transport, operating more than 200 sea routes between 400 ports in 150 countries.

APL Esplanade in Puerto Aguadulce