Hapag-Lloyd welcomes another LNG dual-fuel 23,600 TEU containership

German shipping major Hapag-Lloyd has added another Hamburg Express Class 23,660 TEU containership to its fleet.

The LNG dual-fuel Gdansk Express was officially welcomed during a christening ceremony at the Hanwha Ocean shipyard in South Korea.

“As the 8th addition to join this vessel class, we’re thrilled to expand our fleet and pave the way for more sustainable shipping, all while aiming for a climate-neutral fleet by 2045,” Hapag-Lloyd said in a LinkedIn post.

As disclosed, Gdansk Express is the eighth newbuild of the company’s latest Hamburg Express Class, a series of twelve ships claimed to be “the largest containerships” ever to sail under the German flag.

Like the rest of the ships in the series, it will be outfitted with a high-pressure dual-fuel engine that will operate on LNG, but will also have sufficient tank capacity to operate on conventional fuel as an alternative.

Thanks to the new dual-fuel technology, the Hamburg Express Class vessels will also be able to operate using non-fossil fuels, such as bio-methane and e-methane, and thereby generate hardly any CO2 emissions, Hapag-Lloyd noted.

To remind, the German shipowner took delivery of the seventh LNG dual-fuel 23,660 TEU containership from Hanwha Ocean in August 2024.

Earlier on, the company welcomed several boxships, including Berlin Express, Manila Express, Singapore Express, Iquique Express and Damietta Express.

This new class of ships is expected to make an important contribution to Hapag-Lloyd’s efforts to operate its entire fleet in a climate-neutral manner by 2045.