One of the largest container ships ever to call on the East Coast, the hulking vessel [that visited Harbor Roads on Monday] is a harbinger of the size of ships that will call regularly once the Panama Canal expansion is completed in 2014. The ship is 1,090 feet long and 142 feet wide. It can carry the equivalent of about 8,400 20-foot containers, lined 17-wide across its deck. A Virginia Ports Authority manager was quoted as saying the Tomoko’s arrival marks “an exciting milepost for The Port of Virginia. “The Suez Canal is unconstrained and the Panama Canal is undergoing a massive five-year expansion project. This doesn’t mean all of the vessels calling on Virginia are going to be this size, but this is the beginning.”

From the Virginian-Pilot, February 19, 2010