THE 16,828 TEUer OOCL Iris became the largest capacity vessel to ever call the Port of Savannah, when it arrived at Garden City Terminal last Tuesday.

OOCL Iris is 1,204 feet long and 167 feet wide. The CMA CGM Marco Polo held the previous maximum capacity record at the Port of Savannah, at 16,022 TEU, reports New York's Marine Log.

The Port of Savannah will perform more than 2,800 container moves on and off the Iris, mostly 40-foot containers equalling just over 5,000 TEU. The vessel was slated to depart Savannah around midnight on February 26.

Delivered in December 2024, OOCL Iris is the second in a series of ten 16,828 TEU containerships on order for Hong Kong-headquartered Orient Overseas Container Line and the first to be delivered by China's Nantong COSCO KHI Ship Engineering (NACKS) shipyard.

In 2026, the Georgia Department of Transportation will begin construction on a project to replace existing cables on the Talmadge Bridge, lifting its height. This will allow even larger vessels to serve the Port of Savannah.