''Madrid Express'' (originally ''MSC Fabiola'') is a

container ship A container ship (also called boxship or spelled containership) is a cargo ship that carries all of its load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. Container ships are a common means of commercial intermoda ...

built for the

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

based Peter Döhle Schiffahrtsgesellschaft by

Samsung Heavy Industries Samsung Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. ( Korean: 삼성중공업) is one of the largest shipbuilders in the world and one of the "Big Three" shipbuilders of South Korea (including Hyundai and Daewoo). Geoje (in Gyeongsangnam-do) is one of the lar ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. The ship was initially chartered by the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) as the ''MSC Fabiola''. From 2019 onwards the ship was chartered to

Hapag-Lloyd Hapag-Lloyd AG is a German international shipping and container transportation company. Hapag-Lloyd was formed in 1970 through a merger of Hamburg-American Line (HAPAG) and North German Lloyd. History The company was formed on September 1, 19 ...

as the ''Madrid Express''. In 2012 the ''MSC Fabiola'' became the largest container ship to ever dock in North America, and the largest ship to enter the

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the United States, U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, California, San Jose, and Oakland, Ca ...

. ''MSC Fabiola'' is the first of a series of identical sister ships. The other three are ''MSC Faustina'', ''MSC Fillippa'', and ''MSC Filomena''.

Operational history

In March 2012 the ship shifted from its initial Asia-to-Europe service to begin trans-Pacific service. On March 16, 2012, ''MSC Fabiola'' docked at the Port of Long Beach, breaking earlier records for the largest container ship at a U.S. port, and at any North American port. At the first U.S. stop in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

, the ship was too tall to fit under the Gerald Desmond Bridge and dock at MSC's own terminal, so the Hanjin terminal was used instead. Two days later, ''MSC Fabiola'' passed under the

Golden Gate Bridge The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The structure links the U.S. city of San Francisco, California—the northern tip of the San Francisco P ...

to become the largest ship to enter the San Francisco Bay. The ship docked at the

Port of Oakland The Port of Oakland is a major container ship facility located in Oakland, California, in the San Francisco Bay. It was the first major port on the Pacific Coast of the United States to build terminals for container ships. As of 2011 it was the f ...

. ''MSC Fabiola'' takes about 18 days to cross the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

from California to China. The presence of the ''MSC Fabiola'' at the Port of Oakland is the result of a 12-year harbor-deepening project that was largely completed in September 2009. Prior to the arrival of ''MSC Fabiola'', the Port of Oakland prepared by checking channel depth and dredging as needed. San Francisco Bay pilots trained for the visit on a simulator at the California Maritime Academy for over a year. The ship arrived drawing less than its full draft of because it held only three-quarters of a load after its stop in Long Beach.

2016 Suez Canal grounding

On April 28, 2016, ''MSC Fabiola'' ran aground at

Great Bitter Lake The Great Bitter Lake ( ar, البحيرة المرة الكبرى; transliterated: ''al-Buḥayrah al-Murra al-Kubrā'') is a large saltwater lake in Egypt that is part of the Suez Canal. Before the canal was built in 1869, the Great Bitter L ...

in the Suez Canal after experiencing engine problems, forcing canal officials to temporarily suspend all northbound convoys and stop all southbound convoys in the canal. ''MSC Fabiola'' was refloated on April 30, resuming her southbound journey through the canal, being escorted by five

tugboat A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, su ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Madrid Express Container ships 2010 ships Ships built by Samsung Heavy Industries Merchant ships of Liberia