The largest container ship to enter any South African port on normal business the "MSC Chicago" arrived in Durban on the morning of Aug 29, 2011. The MSC Chicago is on her maiden voyage to South Africa.

Pinky Zungu one of only five female marine pilots in KwaZulu-Natal safely guided the giant container vessel MSC Chicago into Durban harbour.

Zungu, who learnt on Friday that she would be piloting the ship, described the two-hour task as nerve-wracking and requiring a lot of brain work.

"When I was done I felt relieved, it takes a lot of brain work and you can only breathe once the ship has pulled in," she said.

She said she had no doubts that she could pull it off, but the nerves were still there.

"Despite the nerves I kept calm; you can't afford to let the nerves play out because when you dock the ship you have to communicate with six people, giving them all different instructions," she said.