Rickmers adds Nagoya, Japan, to its Round-the-World Pearl String service

HAMBURG-based Rickmers-Linie, which specialises in the global transportation of break-bulk, heavylift and project cargo by sea, has announced that its Round-The-World Pearl String service will start calling at the port of Nagoya, Japan, on a monthly basis, starting from September.

The move will enable its customers to ship cargo directly to Houston, New Orleans, Savannah, Philadelphia, Antwerp and Hamburg. The service also offers additional relay connections via Rickmer's hub port in Houston to other ports in the Caribbean and Central/South America.

The upgraded service will be operating using nine Rickmers Hamburg-class vessels, which are purpose-designed conventional vessels with strengthened pontoon tweendecks, hold lengths up to 32 metres and shipboard cranes that can be twinned to lift up to 640 tonnes. These 30,000 dwt ships are not dependent on the availability of landside heavylift cranes, a company statement said.