Biggest Ship to Ever Visit East Coast Arrives at Port of Virginia
The biggest ship to pass through the expanded Panama Canal since it opened nearly a year ago, as well as the biggest ship ever to call on the U.S. East Coast, is expected to knock on the door of the port - its first stop since leaving Panama - about 2 a.m. Monday, according to the Coast Guard.
The arrival of the COSCO Development is a validation, in many ways, of the bigger-ships-are-coming mantra that port officials and some industry experts have been chanting for years. The ship has a capacity of 13,092 containers, measured in standard, 20-foot equivalent units, or TEUs, an industry benchmark. That's about 3,000 more TEUs than the MOL Benefactor can handle; that ship broke the port's 10,000-TEU barrier last July.