The following is the text of a news release from the U.S. Coast Guard:
(NEW YORK) — Coast Guard crews enforced a safety zone as CMA CGM Theodore Roosevelt, a 1,200-foot containership, passed under the recently elevated Bayonne Bridge on its maiden voyage to the United States on Thursday.
Theodore Roosevelt is the largest capacity containership (14,400 TEU) to transit under the Bayonne Bridge since the project to raise the structure started in May 2013.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey started the project to raise the bridge and deepen the channel so large-capacity ships can use the container ports in Elizabeth and Newark, N.J.
The Bayonne Bridge is the fifth-longest arch bridge in the world, connecting the states of New York and New Jersey by spanning the Kill Van Kull Strait between Bayonne, N.J., and Staten Island, N.Y.
CMA CGM Theodore Roosevelt also participates in the Coast Guard’s Automated Mutual Assistance Vessel Rescue System, or AMVER. AMVER is a worldwide voluntary search and rescue program sponsored by the Coast Guard.
