03.03.08
Hapag-Lloyd is naming the containership “Bremen Express” in Bremerhaven today. The patron of the 335m long mega containership capable of carrying 8,749 standard containers is Hilde Herwig, wife of Thomas W. Herwig, managing partner of the long-established Bremen logistics company Röhlig.
With its “Bremen Express”, Hapag-Lloyd has expanded its fleet to 142 containerships with a total capacity of over 514,000 TEU. It has ordered another 15 identical vessels from the South Korean Hyundai Heavy Industries for delivery up the end of 2011. Hapag-Lloyd, which is one of the top five container lines worldwide, is thus preparing to share in the long-term growth in international container transport.
“Demand for transport services will continue to grow, with global container transport generally expanding twice as fast as world trade. That is because production capacities continue to be shifted to other countries. This is a trend that is far from over. And transport volume within specific economic regions, such as Asia, is expanding all the time. Container transport within Asia is already one of the highest-volume areas in our industry,” explained Michael Behrendt, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd AG. In its latest forecast, the international economic research institute Global Insight expects global container transport to surge from 110m TEU in 2007 to 153m TEU by 2012. According to Global Insight, container transport should grow by 7% this year, almost twice as fast as world trade at 3.7%.
Hapag-Lloyd’s executive board member Adolf Adrion also emphasized the top priority Hapag-Lloyd places on environmental protection. The “Bremen Express” thus has the additional class notation “Environmental Passport” of the classification society Germanischer Lloyd.
This is issued only to environment-friendly newbuildings with state-of-the-art technology. “Hapag-Lloyd was the first line to reduce the speed of its vessels last year to ensure a significant reduction in fuel consumption and thus emissions,” noted Adolf Adrion. This also applies to the “Bremen Express”, which will be deployed between Europe and the Far East. Her maximum speed is 25 knots (approx. 46 km/h). By cutting speed by only 20% to 20 knots, the fuel consumption of the approx. 93,500 hp main engine can be reduced by up to 50%. “That makes sense economically and above all enables us to make an impressive reduction in the environmental impact immediately and directly,” observed Adolf Adrion.
Hapag-Lloyd is one of the three largest customers of Bremen’s ports. Hapag-Lloyd’s transhipment volume in Bremerhaven jumped by about 12% to close on 365,000 TEU last year. When the partner shipping lines from the shipping consortium Grand Alliance, of which Hapag-Lloyd is a member, are included, volume exceeded 631,000 TEU, corresponding to approx. 13% of total container transhipment in Bremerhaven. The number of vessels calling at the port has also increased in recent years. Hapag-Lloyd vessels (without Grand Alliance partners) tied up 158 times in Bremerhaven last year, compared with 110 times in 2006 and 82 in 2005.
Hapag-Lloyd is linked with Bremen’s ports by more than 150 years of shipping and company history. The shipping line Norddeutscher Lloyd was founded in Bremen in 1857. This merged with Hapag, based in Hamburg, in 1970. The name of the former Hanseatic city has already been borne by some famous Lloyd vessels, such as the line’s first oceangoing steamer from June 1858 and the legendary turbine fast steamer “Bremen”, launched in 1928. The "Bremen Express" is the tenth ship of Hapag-Lloyd or Norddeutscher Lloyd to carry the name “Bremen”.
The “Bremen Express” named today was completed by the South Korean yard Hyundai Heavy Industries in a construction time of over seven and a half months, the first steel cutting taking place on June 4th 2007 and delivery on January 21st 2008.
“Bremen Express” – principal particulars
Flag: German
Container capacity: 8,749 TEU (standard containers/Twenty Foot Equivalent Unit)
Length: 335m
Beam: 43m
Height: 60.5m
Weight empty: 35,444t
Deadweight: 103,567t
Main engine output: 68,640 KW or approx. 93,500 hp
Output of auxiliary diesel engines: 4 units with total output of approx. 12,000 KW *)
Max. speed: 25 knots (approx. 46 km/h)
Reefer plugs: 730
Crew: 24
Shipyard: Hyundai Heavy Industries (South Korea)
Class: Germanischer Lloyd (with GL additional class notation “Environmental Passport” for technically advanced and environment-friendly ships)
*) The four state-of-the-art auxiliary diesel engines installed in the “Bremen Express” required for generating electricity e.g. during berthing times in ports operate with ultra low sulphur diesel fuel with only 0.2% sulphur content, thereby significantly reducing sulphur oxide emissions. Moreover, the auxiliary diesels have different outputs, so the unit that optimally generates the specifically required power can be operated. This also reduces consumption and emissions. At sea, a cost-effective shaft generator generates electricity. This is also driven by the main engine, so the auxiliary diesel engines do not need to be operated.
Hapag-Lloyd (http://www.hapag-lloyd.de/) has approx. 8,400 employees worldwide and over 340 offices in more than 100 countries. In the first nine months of 2007, Hapag-Lloyd transported 4,091m standard containers (TEU) and achieved sales of €4.645 billion (€138m being accounted for by Hapag-Lloyd Cruises).
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