World’s Biggest Car Transporter Arrives In the UK – And It Can Carry 8,500 Vehicles

(Images: SWNS)

The world’s biggest car transporter arrived in the UK this week – a 14-deck monster, capable of carrying 8,500 vehicles.

Hoegh Target, which has a deck space the size of ten football pitches, arrived in Tyne and Wear on its maiden voyage from China.

The enormous vessel is 200 metres long and 36 metres wide, with a deck space of 71,400 metres. It is the world’s largest Pure Car and Truck Carrier.

Its stern ramp can withstand the weight of 75 elephants (375 tonnes) and it holds enough cargo to make a 26-mile traffic jam, if they were lined up end to end.

It dwarfed North Shields Fish Quay when it docked this week, boasting doors that are much larger than similar transporters – meaning it can take trucks as high as 6.5 metres tall and 12 metres across.

The beast – registered to Hoegh Autoliners – was officially launched in June. Since then, it has sailed from China’s Xiamen to the UK, via South Korea, Japan, Italy, Spain, Holland and Belgium.

It will run on the East Asia to Europe shipping line and will soon head back to China, passing through Africa and Oceania.

It is the first in a series of six Post Panamax vessels. They are all designed by New Horizon to be environmentally friendly and the other five will be taken delivery of, in the next year and a half.

(Images: SWNS)