Larger ships test Massport

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http://www.bostonherald.com/business/business_markets/2016/03/larger_ships_test_massport



A container ship is unloaded at Conley Terminal, above. Massport head Thomas Glynn says the terminal will soon handle its largest ship yet.

Larger ships test Massport
Jordan Graham Thursday, March 17, 2016

Massport and one of the largest shipping companies in the world plan to test the limits of Boston’s Conley Terminal in the coming weeks, bringing in the largest container ship in the port’s history.

“It’s a challenge, like anything else,” said Thomas Glynn, chief executive of Massport. “They wouldn’t be giving us the challenge if they didn’t think there was a possibility of us meeting it.”

Chinese shipping company Cosco will soon be sending a ship carrying 8,500 containers to the Conley Terminal, surpassing an 8,000-container ship as the largest to come to Boston. Typically, the ships that dock at the Conley Terminal are far smaller.

Glynn said the large ship will have to “ride the tide” to get in, an increasingly common practice. The biggest challenge, Glynn said, will be off-loading containers because the Conley Terminal’s cranes will not be able to reach every container on the ship