Hapag-Lloyd takes in its biggest ship, the 13,000-TEU Hamburg Express

GERMAN shipping company Hapag-Lloyd has held a naming ceremony for the Hamburg Express, the biggest ship in the company fleet and the first vessel to be delivered out of an order for ten 13,200-TEU newbuilds from South Korea to be deployed on the Asia-Europe trade.

The vessel will join Loop 4 of the G6 Alliance service that starts in Hamburg and calls at Rotterdam, Singapore, Shenzhen-Yantian, Ningbo and Shanghai before returning via Yantian, Singapore and Southampton, replacing an 8,000-TEU ship on this service.

The naming ceremony performed by Cornelia Behrendt, wife of chief executive and chairman Michael Behrendt, took place at the Container Terminal Altenwerde (CTA) in Hamburg, where the new ship will call regularly.

Said Mr Behrendt: "The entry into a new class is something we have thought long and hard about. With the modern, extremely efficient newbuilds in the Hamburg Express class, we are not only ensuring that Hapag-Lloyd stays competitive in future, but we are also pursuing our strategy of sustainable growth in line with the market."

All ten newbuilds will sail under the German flag. The other vessels in the series are being built at the Hyundai Heavy Industries shipyard in Ulsan, South Korea. They are 366 metres long and 48 metres wide and have a maximum capacity of 142,092 tonnes with a draft of 15.5 metres. From keel to superstructure they measure 66 metres.

The next two vessels in the series ordered in December 2010 are scheduled for delivery to the ocean liner in late September and mid-November, and will also be deployed in Loop 4. The remaining seven ships are due for delivery next year.

All the newbuilds will replace more expensive charter ships that are to be returned, and thus adjust its fleet capacities flexibly in line with market demand," the release said. Including the Hamburg Express, the company' s fleet now consists of 147 vessels with a total capacity of 674,000 TEU.