Sister of Pirated 'Captain Phillips' Containership Departs Dublin

19th April 2016

Maersk Antwerp (renamed Antwerp) is a sister of Maersk Alabama that was hijacked by Somali pirates and in which the film 'Captain Phillips' is based from

#CaptainPhillips – Containership Antwerp which departed Dublin Port this morning, is a sister of Maersk Alabama which Somali pirates hijacked in 2009 and where the film 'Captain Phillips' is based from, writes Jehan Ashmore.

The 14,120 tonnes Maersk Alabama is the leadship and namesake of this containership class and is reputed to be the first U.S. cargoship to be hijacked in two hundred years. The pirates took over the 155m long containership under the command of Captain Richard Phillips. In the 2013 film, his character was played by actor Tom Hanks.

Only a year separates the 1998 built Maersk Alabama from the Maersk Antwerp which was renamed in recent years. The 1,058 TEU containership made the first ever direct call to Dublin Port yesterday for the Maersk Group subsidiary, Seago Line on the new UK (Liverpool)-Ireland-Spain (Algeciras) service.

The Antwerp which is one of the larger containerships to call to Dublin, departed this morning to begin in completing the first round trip of the new service. This involves the third and final leg which is bound for the southern Spanish port located west of Gibraltar.

Published in Ports & Shipping

Tagged under

About The Author

Jehan Ashmore

Email The Author

Jehan Ashmore is a marine correspondent, researcher and photographer, specialising in Irish ports, shipping and the ferry sector serving the UK and directly to mainland Europe. Jehan also occasionally writes a column, 'Maritime' Dalkey for the (Dalkey Community Council Newsletter) in addition to contributing to UK marine periodicals.

We've got a favour to ask

More people are reading Afloat.ie than ever thanks to the power of the internet but we're in stormy seas because advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news sites, we haven’t put up a paywall because we want to keep our marine journalism open.

Afloat.ie is Ireland's only full–time marine journalism team and it takes time, money and hard work to produce our content.

So you can see why we need to ask for your help.

If everyone chipped in, we can enhance our coverage and our future would be more secure. You can help us through a small donation. Thank you.