By Luis Alonso
A new Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) container ship operated for the first time in Chile by making its inaugural call at Berth No. 1, managed by San Antonio Terminal Internacional (STI).
During the stay of the MSC Carmela, which joined the Swiss-based shipping company’s fleet in January 2025, 2 thousand containers will be moved, with 500 for unloading and 1,500 for loading.
The vessel is one of the 32 ships of the Cherry Express that will be served by the concessionaire of the Port of San Antonio during the 2025-2026 season, the terminal with the largest number of direct services to Asia with four direct routes.
The container ship, launched from the facilities of Dalian Shipbuilding Industry (DSIC) in China, arrived from the Port of Callao, Peru, as part of the Alpaca service. Once operations in San Antonio are completed, the ship will set sail for the Chinese port of Nansha.
The ship, registered under the flag of Liberia, has a capacity of 16,000 TEU, is 366 meters long and 51 meters wide. It is conventionally propelled by liquefied natural gas (LNG) and features a main WinGD engine with diesel iCER energy-saving technology.
It is worth mentioning that the MSC Carmela has the same dimensions as the MSC Chiyo, a container ship that in 2023 became the highest-capacity vessel to arrive in Chile with 16,616 TEU after docking at STI.
Less than a week ago, STI also handled the inaugural call of the MSC Serena, a newly built ship that joined the MSC fleet at the beginning of October this year.
