The Northern Jubilee at Kingston Wharves terminal
On Wednesday, October 12, 2016, Berths 8 and 9 at the Kingston Wharves was a hub of activity when the Northern Jubilee, a 330-metre container vessel set down anchor at the port terminal. The vessel was forced to adjust its schedule to call in Kingston because of the significant damage sustained by the Freeport Container Terminal in the Bahamas due to the passage of Hurricane Matthew.
The post-panamax container vessel arrived in Kingston at 6:00 pm on Wednesday and sailed out again the following day. The Kingston Wharves Team were prepared and ready to ensure that despite the unscheduled berthing, the normal stevedoring would take place. The experienced and expert KW operations team and three of its mobile harbour cranes which included its largest and most recent acquisition, a Liebherr LHM 550 crane, were on hand for the Northern Jubilee.
The Freeport Container Port, is a major transhipment hub for a number of mega vessels including Maersk. The port however sustained major damage due to the passage of Hurricane Matthew and is closed pending repairs. This has resulted in shipping lines including Maersk seeking alternative ports in the region, among which Kingston Wharves has been deemed suitable.
Kingston Wharves is currently in the midst of improvement works to increase its transhipment capacity and also position to accept calls from the mega vessels now using the expanded Panama Canal. These improvements ensured that the port was able to accommodate the Northern Jubilee, with its capacity of 8,400 Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEUs).
Speaking to the importance of the vessel’s call at Kingston, CEO of Kingston Wharves, Mr Grantley Stephenson said they were extremely pleased and proud to grab an opportunity such as the one presented by Maersk.
“Kingston Wharves has shown that our expansion programme is well placed to return on the investment made based on our ability to accommodate a vessel as big as the ‘Northern Jubilee’ at our terminal; this is an opportunity to showcase our capabilities and ‘can do attitude’ to a global audience and a global carrier” he added.
Continuing he said, “this opportunity can only redound to the benefit of our terminal expansion and ultimately position ourselves as prime contenders in this competitive marketplace.”
For her part, Valrie Campbell, Terminal Manager, at port side to welcome the vessel said this call at the terminal indicated that they are ‘brokers of capability’.
The ‘Northern Jubilee’ has a capacity of 8,400 teu’s loaded in 17 container rows across. Berths 8 and 9 where the vessel docked are the newest addition to the port which is still in expansion mode for the next five years.
Kingston Wharves will service several Maersk vessels in the coming weeks and is prepared to be of service to Maersk as a transhipment terminal going forward.
