One of World’s Largest Container Vessel ‘Hamburg Express’ Named

Hapag-Lloyd held, on August 17, a naming ceremony for the “Hamburg Express”, the first of ten new 13,200 TEU class vessels built by Hyundai Heavy Industries, Ulsan, South Korea. The naming ceremony took place at the Container Terminal Altenwerder (CTA) in Hamburg, where the new ship will call regularly in future.

“The fact that the newest and largest ship in the Hapag-Lloyd fleet carries the name of our home port out into the world is part of a long tradition. It is a sign of the strong bond which links us to Hamburg,” said Michael 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 which forms part of a long tradition at the Group. The latest newbuilds, which are under construction at the Hyundai Heavy Industries shipyard in Ulsan, South Korea, 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 a good 66 metres.

The next two vessels from the series ordered in December 2010 will be delivered to Hapag-Lloyd in late September and mid-November, respectively, and will also be deployed in Loop 4. The remaining seven ships are due for delivery next year. A shipping company needs at least ten ships to operate a loop between Europe and Asia. With the addition of the newbuilds, Hapag-Lloyd can return more expensive charter ships and thus adjust its fleet capacities flexibly in line with market demand. Including the new “Hamburg Express”, the Hapag-Lloyd fleet currently consists of 147 vessels with a total capacity of around 674,000 TEU.

Like their predecessors, the ten units in the “Hamburg Express” class will set the highest environmental standards and achieve particularly low figures for fuel consumption and emissions thanks to innovative on-board technology. Numerous Hapag-Lloyd ships are already up to 30% better than the average in the active world fleet. The main innovation in terms of environmental protection on board the “Hamburg Express” and its sister ships is the equipment for ballast water treatment manufactured by the Hamburg-based firm Mahle Industriefilter. The system cleans ships’ ballast water without chemicals before it enters and before it leaves the ballast water tanks and uses filtration and UV light treatment to prevent organisms in the tanks from escaping unintentionally into foreign ecosystems.

The Hamburg Express at a glance:

Capacity: 13,169 TEU (Standard Containers/Twenty Foot Equivalent Unit)

Side by side: up to 19 rows of containers next to each other on deck

Stacked: up to 20 containers (maximum 11 below and 9 above deck)

Reefer plugs: 800

Length over all: 366m

Beam: 48m

Height: 66 Meter

Light ship weight: 42,637mt

Deadweight: 142,092mt

Max. draft: 15.5m

Main engine: 11K98ME7, MAN Diesel & Turbo (an economical 11-cylinder diesel engine with electronic control to reduce emissions)

Main engine output: 52,447 KW

Output of auxiliary engines: 4 units with total output of approx. 13,700 KW

Shaft generator: 4,500 KW (the shaft generator provides eco-friendly electricity at sea with reduced emissions since it is powered by the main engine)

Max. speed: 23.6 knots (actual scheduled speed is well below 20 knots due to slow steaming)

Range: 30,400 nautical miles (about 56,000 km or nearly 1.5 times around the Equator)

[mappress]

Source: hapag-lloyd, August 19, 2012