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The Marco Polo, flying a British flag and said to be the world’s biggest container ship by French owners CMA CGM, was given its champagne christening in the Belgian port of Zeebrugge on Tuesday.
“Marco Polo’s expeditions to Asia made us dream 700 years ago. Today we have a new connection with that continent,” said port president Joachim Coens, quoted by Belga news agency.
The ship, which is 396 metres (yards) long — the length of four football fields — was built in South Korea and was to head back to Asia after a stop in France.
It is said to be the largest container in the world measured by capacity, as it can hold 16,020 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit containers) — or 97 kilometres of containers lined up one by one.
CMA CGM has commissioned two more of the same tonnage expectes to be delivered next spring and each costing between 150 and 200 million euros.