SHIPPING

CHINESE VESSEL REVIVES ANCIENT MARITIME SILK ROAD LEGEND

ONE OF THE MOSTtechnically-advanced ships in the world set sail from Shanghai on April 16 to retrace the oldest maritime route that linked China with the rest of the world.

In the evening of April 16, merchant vessel COSCO Netherlands left the Yangshan Deep Water Port in Shanghai, the world's largest cargo port. Over the course of its journey, it will dock in the Port of Ningbo in east China, the Port of Singapore, the Suez Canal and the Pireaus Port in Greece, as well as ports in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, Hamburg in Germany and Antwerp in Belgium. The entire journey will take about 40 days.

Products of internationally well-known brands, like Hewlett-Packard (HP) computers, Sony LCD monitors, Hisense TVs, Haier refrigerators, automobile spare parts and bicycles, assembled or made in China, are on board for export to northwestern Europe and other areas.

The ship is a 150,000 ton oceangoing container vessel, measuring in at 366 meters long, 51.2 meters wide and 67 meters high. It can carry up to 13,386 TEUs (20 foot equivalent units). It was built by China's Nantong COSCO KHI Ship Engineering Company, and completed in 2013.

China COSCO Shipping Corporation Limited, owner of the COSCO Netherlands, offers services on more than 100 routes globally, including those from the Far East to northwestern Europe, the Mediterranean, the Middle East and Africa, as well as regional feeders within Europe and Southeast Asian nations. Part of the route that the COSCO Netherlands will travel overlaps with the ancient Maritime Silk Road, the history of which can be traced back to ancient times.