Port of Barcelona welcomes Barcelona Maersk on its maiden call at the city it is named after

The container ship Barcelona Maersk made its maiden call at the Port of Barcelona on Friday, in a particularly symbolic visit for a vessel named after the Catalan capital. One of the most modern container ships in the Maersk fleet, it operates on the route connecting Europe and Southeast Asia. The vessel called at APM Terminals Barcelona to load and unload containers before continuing its journey towards Italy, from where it will sail through the Suez Canal on its way back to Asia.

To mark this first visit, the President of the Port of Barcelona, José Alberto Carbonell, presented the captain of the Barcelona Maersk with a commemorative plaque. The ceremony was also attended by Jordi Valls, Barcelona City Council's Fourth Deputy Mayor for Economy, Finance, Economic Promotion and Tourism; Carla Salvadó, Deputy Director General and Head of Commercial and Marketing at the Port of Barcelona; Carles Mayol, Head of Container Department; Julián Fernández, Managing Director of APM Terminals Spanish Gateways; Onofre Monzó, Senior Terminal Solution Manager at A.P. Moller Maersk; and Narcís Pavón, Director of APMT Barcelona.

With a capacity of 17,480 TEUs, the vessel was built in South Korea and entered service earlier this year. The Barcelona Maersk is part of a series of six large container ships equipped with dual-fuel engines that allow them to run on green methanol, an alternative fuel that generates 90% fewer greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than conventional fossil fuels, equivalent to 280 fewer tonnes of CO2 per day.

This technology places the Barcelona Maersk among a new generation of vessels helping the maritime sector move towards the decarbonisation of transport. Its call at Barcelona also reinforces the Port's role as a hub on the major maritime routes connecting Asia and Europe.

“It is a source of great pride to welcome the Barcelona Maersk to the port of the city it is named after. And even more so because we share something beyond the name Barcelona: we share the ambition to move towards increasingly sustainable maritime transport. Maersk's objectives and those of the Port of Barcelona are fully aligned, and having vessels such as the Barcelona Maersk operating on routes that call at our Port helps us achieve these goals together,” said José Alberto Carbonell at the commemorative plaque presentation ceremony.