The Philadelphia Port welcomed the biggest container ship to ever call at America’s East Coast on Friday morning.
The 1300-foot-long ship CMA CGM Marco Polo is now at the Packer Avene Marine Terminal on the River Delaware.
The ship is humongous, 180 feet taller than the city’s tallest structure, the Comcast Technology Center, and longer than four football fields combined.
The ship has 16,000 containers, mostly filled with fruit and vegetables, such as clementines from Morocco.
According to officials, Marco Polo is part of CMA CGM’s NAMEX service, which is said to have an economic impact of around $81 million annually and offers 600 jobs in Greater Philadelphia.
Per sources, NAMEX would link the Philadephia Port with the markets along the Asia-Med region.
PhilaPort CEO Jeff Theobald said the ship is the result of many years of hard work and preparation for a new class of ships.
