Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL; President & CEO: Junichiro Ikeda) today announced that the MOL Benefactor, a 10,000-TEU containership has successfully passed through the expanded Panama Canal on July 1, 2016. This is significant in that the MOL Benefactor is the first Neo-Panamax containership to perform a commercial transit through the Canal’s new expanded locks.
MOL Benefactor, newly built and delivered to MOL in March of 2016 is also the first Neo-Panamax vessel deployed on the G6 Alliance’s new NYX service. The NYX provides a direct link between Qingdao, Ningbo, Shanghai, Busan with New York, Norfolk and Savannah on the United States East Coast and also provides connections to/from Latin America via Manzanillo, Panama.
Image Credits: pancanal.com
MOL’s history with the Panama Canal dates back to over 100 years ago when, in 1915, the Motor Vessel Kongosan Maru became the first MOL-operated vessel to transit the Panama Canal.
Akihiko Ono, Managing Executive Officer in charge of Liner business said, “MOL is pleased to celebrate the inaugural commercial transit of a Neo-Panamax containership through the expanded locks of the Panama Canal. Increased deployment of our Neo-Panamax containerships will help MOL to encourage stronger ties with our customers and play a historic role in the expansion of global trade. As we work towards our objective of becoming the logistics partner that customers think of first, we will continue to offer high-quality and competitive services through fleet improvements that result in reduced fuel consumption leading to cost competitiveness and environmental friendliness.”
[ Vessel Particulars of MOL Benefactor ]
Length : 336.96m
Breadth : 48.2m
Depth : 27.2m
Deadweight Tonnage : 119,324.5 MT
Reference: pancanal.com
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