Port of NY & NJ Welcomes Largest Vessel Ever, the OOCL Iris

The Feb. 11 arrival of the OOCL Iris at Maher Terminals marked a significant milestone for the Port of New York and New Jersey. The 16,828 TEU vessel is the largest ship to call on the Port of New York and New Jersey to date, unseating the 16,022-TEU CMA CGM Marco Polo, which arrived on May 20, 2021. A small ceremony was held to celebrate the arrival of Iris and commemorate the milestone.

Plaque ceremony commemorating the arrival of the OOCL Iris.

The new container vessel operated by Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) traveled from Asia on the 91-day roundtrip Trans-Pacific ECX1 loop, which stops in Hong Kong, Yantian, Xiamen, and Shanghai before arriving in New York and then continuing down the east coast to Savannah and Charleston.

Named after the company’s IT system, the Iris and her sister vessels use an intelligent integrated platform for data collection, storage, and transmission, as well as an advanced energy efficiency system. The Iris has received several notations for its efforts in innovation and sustainability in maritime operations.

The arrival of the OOCL Iris emphasizes the importance of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s ongoing investments to accommodate the increasing numbers of larger cargo ships and to ensure the Port of New York and New Jersey remains competitive as a domestic and global leader.

The OOCL Iris as it prepares to travel under the Bayonne Bridge.

In 2016, the Port Authority and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) completed a project that began in 1999 to deepen the harbor to 50 feet. Advances in shipbuilding resulted in larger vessels and an international cargo fleet that requires a deeper port for safe navigation.

In 2019, the Port Authority completed the raising of the roadway of the Bayonne Bridge to a navigational height clearance of 215 feet, allowing the world’s largest container ships to access terminals in New York and New Jersey.

Currently, the Port is again working with USACE to increase the depth of the pathways to the marine terminals at Port Jersey and Newark Bay to 55 feet (an increase of five feet) to accommodate these larger ships.

The Port of New York and New Jersey is the busiest seaport on the U.S. East Coast and among the top three busiest in the country. Port operations supported more than 563,000 industry jobs in the New York-New Jersey-Pennsylvania region, according to a study of 2022 maritime economic activity by the Shipping Association of New York and New Jersey.