Hapag Lloyd, CMA CGM restart on Europe - Australia

Hapag-Lloyd is starting along with CMA CGM a direct service with weekly departures from Europe to Australia at the end of November 2008. 12 modern vessels with adequate reefer capacity will be deployed in this service offering short transit times to ensure an enhanced coverage of the Australian market.

Subject to regulatory approvals, this will be the only direct service from Europe to Australia via Suez. It will replace the previous ANS service. Northbound the service will continue to call at Singapore and Colombo. Ports in Malaysia, India and Sri Lanka will be added to the rotation.

The vessels to be deployed in this service will be capable of carrying 2,800 TEU each on this route with a round voyage time of 84 days. The port rotation will be Tilbury, Hamburg, Rotterdam, Le Havre, La Spezia, Damietta, Fremantle, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, Singapore, Port Kelang, Chennai, Colombo, Damietta, Malta, La Spezia and back to Tilbury. New Zealand is to be called at with an independent service in the future to improve the companies?presence in this market.

The Australia/New Zealand transport market is continuously expanding. Container volume between Europe and ?own Under?came to approx. 550,000 TEU last year. According to Global Insight, this total will exceed 600,000 TEU by 2009 with annual growth rates of 4~5%. Southbound cargo is chiefly paper, cardboard, cellulose, chemicals and machinery, while mainly food (particularly meat) and beverages (wine) are shipped to Europe. <Korea Shipping Gazette>