Hamburg Süd christens Polar Ecuador in Antwerp

   Hamburg Süd christened the containership Polar Ecuador in Antwerp Monday. 
   “Antwerp is a highly important port for Hamburg Süd, and the Belgian New Fruit Wharf is a very suitable place for the christening of a Polar-class vessel,” said Frank Smet, the shipping line’s chief commercial officer. “After all, with more than 1,000 reefer plugs, the Polar Ecuador transports a disproportionately large volume of refrigerated cargo for a container vessel of this size from Mexico and the Caribbean to Antwerp. This includes, for example, bananas, pineapples and melons, which are handled particularly efficiently and professionally by the fruit and reefer specialists here.”
   The Polar Ecuador will be deployed in Hamburg Süd’s North Europe-Mexico/Caribbean service (EMCS), which connects Antwerp and other European ports in Ireland, Great Britain and Germany with Mexican and Caribbean ports. 
   The Polar Ecuador belongs to a group of four structurally identical vessels in the Polar class that have been built for Hamburg Süd by the Chinese shipyard Jiangsu New Yangzi Shipbuilding. With a total length of 230 meters and a width of 37.30 meters, the ship offers a container storage capacity of 3,800 TEUs and is equipped with 1,000 reefer plugs.