CMA CGM Lyra

 CMA CGM Lyra arrived at Pier 41 early this morning March 5, positioned to use PSA Halifax's largest cranes.

Hyundai Heavy Industries in Ulsan delivered the ship to CMA CGM The French Line in 2011. It is the last of twelve ships of the Andromeda class, built from 2009 on. Due to economic conditions at the time of completion, the ship was mothballed for ten months before entering service in May 20, 2011.

With tonnages of 131,332 gt and 131,266 dwt, the ship has a capacity of 11,200 TEU (11,388 theoretical) , including 800 reefers. This makes it a NeoPanamax class vessel. It must also be among the largest shps built with all accommodation aft. Most ships of the 10,000 TEU+ size have an island bridge structure farther forward to provide adequate visibility over the bow. This ship's bridge is extremely high - about 125 ft above the waterline. The ship also has capacity for seven passenges with six double and one single cabins and a swimming pool.

The ship is sailing on the Ocean Alliance joint CMA CGM / COSCO / Evergreen / OOCL service from Asia via Suez. Ships on this "Columbus JAX" service usually sailed directly from Colombo, Sri Lanka to Halifax, but this ship stopped in Tanger Med, Morocco. It will sail late this evening for New York.

The ship is new to this service, having previously operated Asia / Europe. It was in the port of Beirut on August 4, 2020, 1.5 kms from the fertilizer explosion that killed at least 218, injured 7,000 and left 300,000 homeless. The explosion, estimated as the equivalant of 1.1 kilotons of TNT fell well short of the 2.9 kilotons estimate for the Halifax Explosion of December 6, 1917 which killed 1,782 and injured 9,000. The CMA CGM Lyra was not damaged, but one CMA CGM shore employee died and many of the 261 other staff members were effected by the disaster. CMA CGM stepped in with aid and emergency logistics relief on a large scale, to assist the port and the country in recovery.

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