Huge ship Narwa brought the cargo, 5714 tons of cement destined for the country's building industry, into the port from Barcelona, and staff from the Canal & River Trust- the charity that operates the port and the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal- were there to greet it.
The last time a shipment of this size was seen at Sharpness was over 40 years ago, after the ship Lyminge carried 5770 tons of soya bean meal into port from Toronto.
The huge cargo comes after another shipping milestone was hit earlier this year, when the Eva Maria Muller made her 283rd journey into port, bringing with her enough cement to take the combined tonnage of all of her cargoes over 1,000,000- a first for the port.
Nick Worthington, waterway manager at the Canal & River Trust, said: “It's certainly a bit different to most of the traffic on our inland waterways, and while we often get big ships come into port at Sharpness, it's rare that they're carrying such huge shipments. It's been an exciting time for us, and shows that shipping at Sharpness is still going strong.”
