SIMIC

Port officials hailed the ship's arrival as the beginning a "new chapter" for Boston as it works to keep up with a growing number of east and Gulf coast US ports accommodating bigger ships.

A six-mile-long, 40-foot deep main channel was dug extending from Massachusetts Bay, through Broad Sound, to the entrance of Mystic and Chelsea Rivers. The channel is 900 -1,100 feet wide.

The Taiwanese-owned Panamanian-flagged Ever Fortune is the length of three football fields and measures 160 feet abeam.

Built in 2020, the vessel will connect Boston to several ports in East Asia via the Panama Canal, according to the Massachusetts Port Authority, which owns and operates public terminals in the Port of Boston.

Mike Meyran, the port authority director, said the expanded infrastructure "opens new opportunities for our customers to ship more products and make global connections than were previously possible."

Aided by state and federal funding, the shipping channel was deepened by about seven feet and larger cranes were installed at the Conley Container Terminal.