With 20-m deep fairways, a 600-m wide port entrance and excellent connections with the hinterland, Maasvlakte 2 will be the ideal port for the world's very largest container ships.

400 metres

In the near future, the very largest vessels (with room for 12,500 containers or more) will be able to dock 24 hours a day at Maasvlakte 2. And should technological evolution lead to even bigger ships, this will not pose a problem for the port either. Incidentally, container ships cannot expand indefinitely. There are critical length-width-depth ratios that keep the growth in check. The 12,000-TEU ships will primarily be wider than the old models: from 17 containers across the breadth of the deck today, to 22 in the near future. Capacities closer to 15,000 TEU will increase the ships' draught. The maximum length of the ships will probably be 400 m.

Why this large?   

Two small ships require more fuel and manpower than one large ship. In other words: the more containers that fit on a ship, the cheaper, more efficient and more environmentally friendly it is. The drawback is that these mammoth vessels can't simply dock at all existing ports. Large ships need deep water and a lot of room to manoeuvre and moor. Maasvlakte 2 will provide this space and will allow even the very largest container ships to load and unload their cargo here problem-free 24 hours a day. This is unique in Europe.