Container vessel Petra arrives at the SP-SSA International Terminal in Ba Ria-Vung Tau on Friday. — VNS Photo

Port operator SP-SSA International Terminal on Friday said the first ship from Petra, a new vessel service, has berthed at the Cai Mep Thi Vai Port in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau.

M/V Navios Utmost has a capacity of more than 8,200 TEU’s and 101,597 DWT and will unload around 1,800 containers.

It marks a milestone for SSIT as Petra is operated by MSC shipping line, one of the three largest container shipping companies in the world.

Currently SSIT gets five weekly vessels from MSC that connect Viet Nam with other Asian countries and two services to the US from shipping lines such as CMA and THE Alliance.

“Despite the difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic affecting the Vietnamese and global economies, SSIT has been providing good services to customers,” Nguyen Le Chon Tam, general director of SSIT, said.

“Therefore, SSIT has been trusted to handle new container services from customers such as MSC shipping line, THE Alliance, CMA CGM shipping line, and others.

SSIT will continuously strive to further improve its service quality, making an important contribution to the development of the Cai Mep and Viet Nam seaport system.”

SSIT is a joint venture established in 2006 between SSA Marine, Seattle and Washington USA and Vietnamese companies Vinalines and Saigon Port.

It was built to operate large container vessels and is equipped with modern container handling equipment, including the largest STS cranes in Viet Nam, a land area of ​​60ha and 600 meters of berth.

It also has 445 meters of specialised berths for handling barges that enable transport of goods between the Cai Mep area and inland container depots and ports in HCM City, Dong Nai and Binh Duong. — VNS