In December, the Dutch ship Dijksgracht, 13,558gt, became the largest vessel to call at Ipswich when she arrived with a shipment of 10,500 tonnes of rice from Texas.
The rice was discharged at the Orwell Bulk Terminal, which was opened last year after a £2.2mn investment by the port’s owners Associated British Ports (ABP).
The ABP Ipswich team worked with the Harwich Haven Authority and pilots to plan the safe arrival of the 156.93m long vessel which only had approximately 0.37m of clearance between the top of the ship and the Orwell Bridge.