Freeport container handling breaks record in 2018

Malta Freeport Terminals handled a record-breaking 3.31 million TEU (Twenty Foot Equivalent Unit) containers in 2018, according to a press release in early January. Due to a recent investment programme in equipment and facilities, the Freeport expects to increase capacity to 4 million TEUs.

The Freeport, which claims to have become accustomed to receiving the world’s largest container ships, received the calls of more than 2,200 vessels last year. Only in the second week of this year, the Freeport handled more than 8,000 TEU containers on a single ship. “Five super post-Panamax Quayside Cranes were deployed on the 398 metre-long APL Changi, which was built in 2013 by Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries and carries 17,292 TEU containers, to enable workers to perform the feat,” the press release discussed the technicalities.

Alex Montebello, CEO of Malta Freeport Terminals, considers 2018 to have been a challenging one. “Breaking the records once again in terms of throughput despite the fact that we are operating at elevated capacity in a difficult and highly competitive environment,” the CEO says. “This is thanks to the investment and dedication from our committed personnel – without whom the progress we’ve registered would not have been possible – but we are all determined to take the Freeport to the next level and enhance its reputation as one of the region’s go-to transhipment hubs,” he concludes.

The two most common international standardised container types are Twenty Foot Equivalent Unit (TEU) and Forty Foot Equivalent Unit (FEU).