Hapag-Lloyd holds naming ceremony for 10,500 TEU ship ‘Guayaquil Express’ in Hamburg

Monday, 31 July 2017 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Hapag-Lloyd recently held the naming ceremony in Hamburg for the ‘Guayaquil Express’, the fourth of five new buildings in its 10,500 TEU class.

The “Guayaquil Express” was ordered in 2015, built by Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries in South Korea, and sails between Europe and South America.

With a length of 333 meters and a width of 48 meters, the ship is designed for the new locks of the Panama Canal. With it, Hapag-Lloyd underscores its leading role in the Latin America trade. After merging with the container activities of CSAV in 2014, the company numbers among the market leaders in this trade.

By deploying the ship, rather than bringing any new tonnage into the market, Hapag-Lloyd is replacing two older vessels with each of the new state-of-the-art ones. As a result, significantly more efficient ships will be deployed between North Europe and South America West Coast without noticeably increasing capacity in the market.

Like the “Guayaquil Express,” all vessels in the series are named after ports in South America as a sign of the close ties.

Each of the five new ships has 2,100 plugs for temperature-controlled “reefer” containers.

The vessels set the highest standards in environmental protection, and achieve especially low fuel-consumption and emissions levels thanks to innovative onboard technologies. They are equipped with a highly efficient main engine, an optimised hull shape and a novel lashing and loading system for a higher utilisation.

All five new buildings will sail under the German flag and are classified DNVGL. Their home port is Hamburg. A maximum of 19 rows of containers can be placed side by side on board the ships, which each have a maximum capacity of 123,500 tonnes. While the maximum draft is 14 meters, the distance from keel to superstructure measures 63.5 meters. The eight cargo holds and decks (nine tiers of containers can be stacked on top of each other above and below deck) offer a total capacity of 10,590 TEU.