18.09.00
"We anticipate continued swift growth in worldwide container transport, and we are responding accordingly by commissioning seven containerships in 2000," commented Bernd Wrede, chairman of the executive board of Hapag-Lloyd AG, at the naming of the "Rotterdam Express" in Rotterdam. The new ship was named by Heidi Schneider, wife of the executive board chairman of Bayer AG (Leverkusen), Dr. Manfred Schneider.
The ceremony at ECT Home Terminal in Prins Willem Alexander Haven was attended by some 200 guests from business and politics, including the mayor of Rotterdam, I. W. Opstelten, port senator P.J. H. M. van Dijk, W.K. Scholten, general director of the Port of Rotterdam, and E. von Puttkamer, the German ambassador to the Netherlands.
The keel-laying of the "Rotterdam Express" took place on March 28th 2000. After a construction time of only close on five months, she was delivered by the shipyard of Hyundai Heavy Industries in Ulsan (Korea) to Hapag-Lloyd on August 18th 2000 and began her first voyage to Europe. "The newbuilding is deployed on services between Europe and the Far East, where we offer our customers five departures weekly," explained Günther Casjens, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd Container Line. The vessel with Hamburg as home port is 294 metres long and 32.20 metres wide, has a capacity of 67,250 tonnes and can carry 4,890 standard containers (TEU).
Hapag-Lloyd along with its two preceding companies Hapag and North German Lloyd has been calling at the Port of Rotterdam for over a hundred years. It has had its own branch in Rotterdam, Hapag-Loyd Nederland B.V., since January 1992.
"With the 'Rotterdam Express' a ship now bears the name of Rotterdam and its port over the oceans as a token of our close ties with this transhipment hub and local shippers," Bernd Wrede stated.
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