The world's largest container ship, the MSC Irina, with a maximum container capacity of 24,346 TEUs, docked at Nansha Port in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, on Monday. [Photo by Li Qijun/For chinadaily.com.cn]

The world's largest container ship, the MSC Irina, with a maximum container capacity of 24,346 TEUs (20-foot equivalent unit), docked at Nansha Port in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, on Monday, the port company said.

After docking at a container terminal in the port's second phase, the ship will head to the Mediterranean, passing through important ports along the way with a cargo of intelligent home appliances, photovoltaic products, textiles, furniture and other products made in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

The ship, which was developed by Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Group in Jiangsu province, has a length of about 400 meters and a width of 61.3 meters. It can handle up to 25 layers of single containers, equivalent to the height of a 22-story building.

Dubbed the sea giant, the ship's containers, if lined up end-to-end, would reach from Guangzhou to Hong Kong, the port company said.

With the addition of the MSC Irina, there are 13 large ships equipped with a maximum container capacity of over 19,000 TEUs on the Mediterranean route from Nansha Port, it said.

Nansha Port, an important arm of the Guangzhou Port Group, has already built 20 large container berths with a capacity of more than 100,000 tons each and an annual container throughput capacity of over 24 million TEUs.

The berths are equipped with advanced hardware facilities for terminal management systems.

The world's largest container ship, the MSC Irina, with a maximum container capacity of 24,346 TEUs, docked at Nansha Port in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, on Monday. [Photo by Li Qijun/For chinadaily.com.cn]

The world's largest container ship, the MSC Irina, with a maximum container capacity of 24,346 TEUs, docked at Nansha Port in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, on Monday. [Photo by Li Qijun/For chinadaily.com.cn]

The world's largest container ship, the MSC Irina, with a maximum container capacity of 24,346 TEUs, docked at Nansha Port in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, on Monday. [Photo by Li Qijun/For chinadaily.com.cn]