Hapag-Lloyd orders eight from HHI shipyard
Surge in container volumes prompts expansion says company.

Global container transport volume should surge to 138m standard containers by 2011, according to Global Insight, one of the leading economic research institutes. This would mean an increase of 40m containers or over 40% compared with 2006.

The Hamburg-based shipping line Hapag-Lloyd, which belongs to the top 5 in global container transport, is responding to the forecast market expansion. On Friday it announced a newbuilding programme for eight vessels for delivery in December 2009 (two ships) and in the first half of 2010. It is planned to deploy the newbuildings on the routes to and from Asia, which continue to account for the highest growth in container transport.

The newbuildings are to be built at the South Korean shipyard Hyundai Heavy Industries. They will have a length of 335m and a beam of 43m and each be able to carry 8,750 standard containers (TEU). The units will have a deadweight capacity of 103,000t and measure over 60m from keel to superstructure.

"With this order, Hapag-Lloyd is giving fleet homogeneity and thus savings in operational costs priority over opting for a ship size capable of transporting over 10,000 TEU. We have had very positive results with the five units we already deploy. They are efficient and incorporate state-of-the-art technology, and they can be flexibly deployed on various routes if required by the market situation,” explained Michael Behrendt, Chairman of the Executive Board of Hapag-Lloyd.