ZIM ORDERS ANOTHER THREE 5,000-TEU SHIPS FOR ZCS LINK

ZIM ORDERS ANOTHER THREE 5,000-TEU SHIPS FOR ZCS LINK    Zim Israel Navigation Co. has ordered another three 5,000-TEU containerships from the Korean shipyard Hyundai, the final part of a move to upgrade the entire fleet of the carrier’s Asia/U.S./Mediterranean “ZCS” pendulum service.
   Zim said that the latest order completes its program of ordering 13 larger vessels, representing a total investment of $650 million.
   The first six vessels in the series were delivered in 2002; another six are scheduled to be received during 2004, and the last one at the beginning of 2005.
   Zim said that the 13 vessels will constitute the fleet of its ZCS global service, which calls at Haifa, the western Mediterranean, the U.S. East Coast, Jamaica, the U.S. West Coast and the Far East. The 13 vessels of 5,000-TEU capacity, with speeds of 24 knots, will replace the previous fleet of 15 ships of 3,400-TEU containerships sailing at 20 knots. “The new fleet will reduce the round trip time from 105 to 91 days,” Zim said.
   Following the introduction of the seven new larger vessels during 2004 and at the beginning 2005, eight container vessels of 3,400 TEUs will be switched from the ZCS service to the “AMP” service. The AMP operation has a rotation of Adriatic ports, Haifa, Singapore, the Far East, U.S. and Canadian Pacific Northwest, Far East, Haifa and the Adriatic. This service currently uses ships with an average capacity of about 2,900 TEUs, according to the global liner shipping database ComPairData.
   The vessel renewal program of Zim effectively increases the weekly capacity of the ZCS service by some 50 percent over a period of approximately three years, while adding some capacity to the AMP operation at the same time.
   This vessel building program “is to increase the fleet capacity significantly,” Zim said.