Chiquita using Hamburg Süd vessels

   Hamburg Süd has launched a direct liner service between North, Central and South America, deploying five vessels with a nominal slot capacity of 1,850 TEUs, including refrigerated container plugs.  
   Hamburg Süd said the services replaces a current Cartagena–California service and has the  following port rotation: Guayaquil, Balboa, Puerto Quetzal, Los Angeles, Oakland, Manzanillo, Puerto Quetzal, Balboa. Paita, and Guayaquil.
   Meanwhile, Chiquita’s “in-house” shipping company Great White Fleet now lists the five Hamburg Sud ships in the service – the 2007-built Cap Paton, Cap Palliser, Cap Palmerston, Cap Portland and Cap Pasley – as moving its cargo between Guyaquil, Ecuador; Quetzal, Guatemala; and Port Hueneme, Calif.
   It’s not clear what percentage of the reefer capacity in the Hamburg Süd service is taken by the banana company. Neither company immediately responded to requests for additional information.
   Chiquita has also said that in the third quarter of 2011 it implemented a new European shipping configuration that involves shipment of part of its core volume in equipment on board third-party containerships. – Chris Dupin