Maiden call of the UASC giant containership 'AL ULA' in Le Havre : new development capacity for HAROPA

On Friday, June 22nd, the ‘Terminal de France’ (TDF) operated by GMP at Port 2000 (Le Havre) received, for the first time, the ‘AL ULA’, a container vessel of the ‘United Arab Shipping Company’ (UASC) with a capacity of 13,500 TEU. Delivered in last February by Samsung Heavy Industries shipyards, the ‘AL ULA’ is the 4th sea giant vessel operated by the shipping line on the Asia-North Europe connection with the port of Le Havre as the first European port of call on import.

Development of the UASC shipping service on the Europe – Asia trade

366 metres long and 48 metres broad, the ‘AL ULA’ completes the supply of the AEC8 service which provides the highest transport capacity (more than 13,600 TEU on average) among all services calling in at Le Havre. « AL ULA » called at the ‘Terminal de France’ in Le Havre last Friday. This vessel presents the latest technology in terms of environmental protection with especially a system of waste heat from exhaust gas being recovered to generate electricity.

At the ‘Terminal de France’, the ‘AL ULA’ was attended by six gantry cranes working at the same time:

3,500 import-export containers were handled during her call in Le Havre.

New container capacity which completes the HAROPA range of services

Grouped together within HAROPA, the ports of Le Havre, Rouen and Paris combine the performance of state-of-the-art terminals receiving the top shipping lines and the flexibility of more specialised terminals:

• A privileged geographic location: 1st port called at in Northern Europe on import
• Facilities continuously accessible: 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
• Optimum connection with the whole world: 500 ports called at, over 40 shipping companies and more than 100 services
• Rail and waterway services: around 50 railway services and 60 waterway services per week
• Continuous information with a customs one-stop shop and AP+ Cargo Community System.