Hamburg Süd, Maersk to Cooperate

Hamburg Süd and Maersk Line have announced the formation of a new vessel sharing agreement. Subject to regulatory approval the two lines will establish a weekly service from Australia/New Zealand to the East Coast of North America. Twelve vessels with a nominal capacity of 2,800 TEU and a reefer plug capacity of 530 plugs will be employed. Each carrier will provide six vessels. In line with our customers' requirements the new service will offer competitive and faster connection between the main ports in Australia and New Zealand to and from the U.S. East Coast. The port rotation will be as follows: Auckland (New Zealand), Sydney (Australia), Melbourne (Australia), Port Chalmers (New Zealand), Tauranga (New Zealand), Auckland (New Zealand), Manzanillo (Panama), Cartagena (Colombia), Savannah (US), Philadelphia (US), Tilbury (UK), Bremerhaven (Germany), Antwerp (Belgium), Philadelphia (US), Savannah (US), Balboa (Panama), Auckland (New Zealand). The North Europe leg (Transatlantic/Europe and Europe/Oceania/Europe) of this service will only be offered by Hamburg Süd whereas Maersk Line will maintain its present service from Oceania to North Europe via Tanjung Pelepas in Malaysia. This new service will replace the existing Hamburg Süd Trident Service and the current Maersk Line Oceania Service to the U.S. East Coast. Subject to obtaining regulatory approval the implementation is scheduled for the end of May early June 2008.