Hamburg Sud to deploy 5,552-TEU ship

Hamburg Sud to deploy 5,552-TEU ship    Hamburg Sud said its new 5,552-TEU containership, the “Monte Cervantes,” has begun service with a short-term charter assignment.
   The new ship, the first of six sisterships, will join the company’s Europe/East Coast of South America service early next year.
   Hamburg Sud’s other five 5,552 TEU containerships under construction at Korea’s Daewoo shipyards. They are also destined for the Europe/South America trade and will be delivered in succession between now and the autumn of 2005.
   “With 1,365 reefer container plugs apiece and a 23.3 knot operating speed, the ships have the largest refrigerated capacity in the world’s current containership fleet,” Hamburg Sud said.
   The order of the six 5,552-TEU vessels follows the company’s investment in 2001 and 2002 into six 3,740-TEU vessels now operating in the U.S. East Coast/East Coast of South America trade.