The ALAM PENTING
(Singapore) seen here bringing coal
from New Orleans, on her first
visit in 2011, was billed as 'the largest ship to be berthed in the river'.
In fact although many ships of similar length have brought coal, she had the
greatest draught as she was loaded with 75 000 tonnes of coal. This was only made possible by recent deepening of the river to be able to handle
vessels of this size. On 16th May 2012 a sister ship, the ALAM
PESONA broke the record with 76 195 tonnes of coal- the river at that
time was
importing over 2 million tonnes annually. Both ships are 229 m (750 ft.) long
and 36.53 m (120 ft.) wide. These huge vessels are called "Panamax" as they are the largest that
could pass though the Panama Canal before its widening in 2016.
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