SIMIC

The six vessels were: MSC Sveva, Manchester Maersk, CMA CGM Alexander Von Humboldt, CMA CGM Georg Forster, CMA CGM Jean Mermoz and the Evelyn Maersk.

In a statement, the company said that to meet the trend of increased deployment of mega-vessels among the maritime industry and the growing demand of the customers, Yantian launched the berth upgrade project last year.

"The enhancement has enabled Yantian to provide more agility and resilience to serve the world's largest container vessels. Hereafter, simultaneous calls of six 200,000-DWT vessels will become a new norm and a common occurrence at the quay side of Yantian," the statement added.

Lawrence Shum, managing director of Hutchison Ports Yantian, said, "We are pleased to accommodate six 400-meter-long vessels simultaneously for the first time after the recent berth upgrade and the relevant authority approval.

"Yantian is now allowed to handle six 200,000-DWT class vessels at the same time. All container vessels with capacity over 18,000 TEU deployed in South China are 100 per cent calling at Yantian, a preferred port-of-call for mega vessels."