World's largest ship docks in south China

The world's largest ship in service has made its maiden voyage to the southern Chinese port city of Guangzhou.

Madison Maersk, one of nine enormous "Triple E" vessels owned by Maersk Line, docked in Guangzhou Port's Nansha Terminal on Wednesday afternoon and unloading from the ship began on Thursday.

The docking is regarded as a major step in Maersk, the world's largest container liner company, exploring the Chinese market.

The visit was also cheered by Guangzhou Port, one of the world's top 10 ports in terms of cargo volume handled, as a milestone achievement to build it into a leading international port.

At 400 meters in length, 59 meters in breadth and 73 meters in height,Triple-E vessels can hold 18,000 20-foot TEU containers, the largest container capacity of a single vessel in the world. The name refers to "Economy of scale," "Energy efficiency" and "Environmentally-improved."

From docking, Madison Maersk is scheduled to stay in Guangzhou for 28 hours, during which time more than 12,000 TEU containers will be loaded and uploaded, said Chen Hongxian, chairman of Guangzhou Port Group.

"Receiving the vessel was a test for us. We're happy we passed it. It proves we have reached a new level with our facilities and services," Chen added.

Maersk officially started its business in Nansha in 2006. Tom Xu, head of the Maerk Line Far East Asia Liner Operations Cluster, said the Madison Maersk's visit to Nansha "showed the company's confidence in the Chinese market and in Guangzhou Port as well."

Maersk Line has ordered 20 Triple-E vessels like Madison Maersk from the Korea-based Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., Ltd. The company has taken delivery of nine vessels so far, deploying five of them on the Asia-Europe route, which makes up a quarter of the liner's business.