Malta Freeport Terminals handled a record 3.31 million TEU containers in 2018 and will this year be steaming ahead with an ambitious investment programme in equipment and facilities in a concerted drive to increase the Terminals’ capacity to 4m TEUs.

More than 2,200 vessels over the past 12 months called at the Freeport, which has become accustomed to receiving the world’s largest container ships.

This week alone, the Freeport handled over 8,000 TEU containers on a single ship in an impressive display of its operational capabilities. Five super post-Panamax Quayside Cranes were deployed on the 398 metre-long APL Changi, which was built in 2013 by Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries and carries 17,292 TEU containers, to enable workers to perform the feat.

Malta Freeport Terminals CEO Alex Montebello said: “2018 was a challenging year for Malta Freeport, breaking the records once again in terms of throughput despite the fact that we are operating at elevated capacity in a difficult and highly competitive environment. This is thanks to the investment and dedication from our committed personnel – without whom the progress we’ve registered would not have been possible – but we are all determined to take the Freeport to the next level and enhance its reputation as one of the region’s go-to transshipment hubs.”