South America West Coast News

The PSA Wayra ASD tug will soon enter service for PSA Marine Peru, a wholly owned subsidiary of PSA Marine (Pte) Ltd, as the first tug with a hybrid drive system on South America’s west coast. Hong Kong-based Cheoy Lee Shipyards has built the PSA Wayra on the RAmparts 2400W design from Robert Allan Ltd. The tug is propelled by SCHOTTEL RudderPropellers featuring patented SYDRIVE-M technology. This mechanical hybrid solution without the costly complexity of common hybrid technology reduces both the vessel’s maintenance costs and its fuel consumption.

The $538 million first phase of the new Deepwater Port of Posorja in Ecuador by global trade enabler, DP World, is now completed and successfully operational.The overall $1.2 billion project will replicate Dubai's Jebel Ali Port and freezone, making Ecuador a trade and logistics hub for South America's west coast, and opening a gateway for large container ships with capacities exceeding 10,000 TEUs.Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Group Chairman and CEO, DP World, visited the facility to assess progress of the project, which is one of the largest international investments in Ecuador. The port has already been operational for two months, handling thousands of containers and more than a dozen post-panamax ships.Posorja is expected to welcome an annual volume of 750…

Hamburg Süd has strengthened its product portfolio on the Europe with new stand-alone service offered in collaboration with Maersk.The trade between Europe and Central America, Caribbean and South America West Coast has always been a key element in Hamburg Süd’s global network of liner services. In cooperation with Maersk, Hamburg Süd will be expanding and enhancing the services it offers on this core trade beginning in June 2019.According to a press release, the serice will have maximum flexibility for tailor-made solutions, better port coverage and competitive transit times and high schedule reliability.“Combining the strengths of Hamburg Süd and Maersk…

The trade between Europe and Central America, Caribbean and South America West Coast has always been a key element in the container liner shipping line Hamburg Süd’s global network of liner services.In cooperation with Maersk, Hamburg Süd will be expanding and enhancing the services it offers on this core trade beginning in June 2019.“Combining the strengths of Hamburg Süd and Maersk, we can offer our customers a best in class stand-alone service configuration without having to depend on vessel sharing agreements with other shipping companies,” says Frank Smet, Chief Commercial Officer of Hamburg Süd.“This allows maximum flexibility towards the needs of the trade and our customers because we can design and operate the systems totally independently.

Hapag-Lloyd held a naming ceremony in Hamburg for the Guayaquil Express, the fourth of five newbuildings in its 10,500 TEU class. The patron is Christine Kühne, wife of Klaus-Michael Kühne, majority shareholder and Honorary Chairman of Kühne + Nagel International AG. Among those attending the christening at the Container Terminal Altenwerder in the Port of Hamburg were Olaf Scholz, the Mayor of Hamburg, and Angela Titzrath, the CEO of Hamburg Hafen und Logistik AG. “This naming ceremony is a symbol of the close connection to our home port, which is simultaneously the home port of the Guayaquil Express,” said Michael Behrendt, the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Hapag-Lloyd AG. “For us, the Guayaquil Express is a ‘smart ship’,” said Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd.

Less than nine months after the historic inauguration of the Expanded Canal, the Panama Canal has announced that it has welcomed its 1,000th Neopanamax vessel through the waterway, highlighting the importance of the route and customers’ continued faith in the safe, reliable and efficient service the Canal provides. On Sunday, March 19, the containership Mediterranean Shipping Company's MSC Anzu made the historic 1,000th transit through the Expanded Canal, heading northbound from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.

APL today announced that its West Coast Service (WCS) will be serving an additional port in Callao, Peru, expanding the service’s port coverage in South America West Coast. “The Port of Callao is the chief seaport of Peru, handling a sizeable volume of its ocean-borne cargo. With the WCS service calling Callao, we are excited about offering shippers access to and from this major gateway for imports and exports,” said Efrain Osorio, APL Regional Director of Latin America & the Caribbean. The first sailing of the enhanced WCS service will commence from Balboa on 5 February 2017, calling the ports of Balboa, Callao, Paita and Guayaquil every week.

Container shipping company Hapag-Lloyd held the naming ceremony for its newest German flagged containership, the Cartagena Express, at the Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries shipyard in Samho, South Korea. “With the Cartagena Express, yet another state-of-the-art ship of our 10,500 TEU fleet is setting sail. In terms of size, design and reefer capacity, it is ideally suited for the traffic between Europe and South America West Coast,” said Anthony J. Firmin, Chief Operating Officer of Hapag-Lloyd.

The Panama Canal welcomed the largest capacity vessel to-date to transit the Expanded Locks—Hapag-Lloyd's Valparaiso Express, a 10,589 TEU Neopanamax containership built specifically to take advantage of the greater capacity offered by the Expanded Panama Canal. Today’s passage ushers in a new era of mega-ships that are now able to transit the Expanded Canal since it’s inauguration on June 26 of this year. The new locks, which are 70 feet wider and 18 feet deeper than those in the original Canal, are able to accommodate Neopanamax vessels carrying up to 13,000 to 14,000 TEUS.

Hapag-Lloyd held a naming ceremony for the first of its five new vessels in its new 10,500 TEU class containerships, Valparaíso Express. Valparaíso Express was named by Rozío Gonzaléz – wife of Andrónico Luksic, Chairman of the Board of the Quiñenco Group – who performed the ceremony at the Terminal Pacifico Sur (TPS) in the port of Valparaíso, where the new ship will call regularly going forward. The Quiñenco Group is the largest shareholder of CSAV, one of the three controlling shareholders of the Hapag-Lloyd.

Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) made its first port call in Batumi International Container Terminal (BICT) in Batumi, Georgia, marking the launch of Gioia-Ukraine & Georgia feeder service, says International Container Terminal Services, Inc.(ICTSI). “M/V Max Carrier made its first call to Batumi International Container Terminal (BICT) in Batumi, Georgia, marking the launch of the Mediterranean Shipping Company’s (MSC) Gioia -- Ukraine & Georgia feeder service,” ICTSI said in a statement. The new service features fast connections between the Port of Batumi and the ports in Gioia Tauro, Italy; Burgas, Bulgaria; and Ilichevsk and Odessa in Ukraine. BICT is a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of ICTS49, and Batumi Sea Port Ltd. (BSP). The port operator, controlled by billionaire Enrique K.

The  ocean carrier APL has announced three additional ports of call for the weekly Asia Latin America Service (ALX). Including Callao, Da Chan Bay and Valparaiso, the expanded ALX service will offer a more comprehensive coverage across Asia, Manzanillo in Mexico, and South America west coast. “Export manufacturers from Asia, in particular those from the Pearl River Delta can expect to exploit a larger market coverage in the Americas via the direct service of ALX from Asia to South America west coast. As the service facilitates access to Central America via Manzanillo in Mexico where transshipment options are available, the extended port calls to Callao in Peru as well as Valparaiso in Chile will enable route to these Latin America markets…

The first of a new class of “Neo-Panamax” shipping vessels called the Port of Philadelphia to begin a new phase of transport along the Delaware River. The MSC Sofia Celeste, an 8,800 TEU (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit) vessel operated by the Mediterranean Shipping Company, docked at the Packer Avenue Marine Terminal in South Philadelphia for the first time, making it the largest ship to ever call the Port of Philadelphia. “This new service comes as a direct result of the opening of the Panama Canal Expansion,” said David Whene, President of Greenwich Terminals LLC, operator of the Packer Avenue Marine Terminal. The MSC Sofia Celeste was completed in 2014 and has an on-board capacity of 8…

The world's largest container shipping company Maersk Line, owned by A.P. Moller-Maersk, plans to increase freight rates for transporting containers from Asia to Northern Europe by $550 per 20-foot equivalent unit (TEU) from May 1, it said on Tuesday. The industry has been grappling with overcapacity and freight rates for shipping containers on the key route have plummeted 78 percent this year to a level widely widely seen as loss-making. Maersk Line also aims to raise freight rates from Asia to some ports in Central America and South America's west coast by $1,050 per TEU from May 15.

French container shipping group CMA CGM has offered concessions in a bid to win European Union antitrust approval for its $2.4 billion takeover of Singaporean rival Neptune Orient Lines. CMA CGM, which ranks behind No. 1 Maersk Line and Swiss peer MSC in global shipping, submitted the concessions on Thursday, a filing on the European Commission website showed on Monday, without giving details. CMA is expected to withdraw NOL from competing shipping alliances to allay concerns, people familiar with the matter said. The tie-up between German container shipping company Hapag Lloyd and Chilean peer Compania Sud Americana de Vapores (CSAV)…

Hapag-Lloyd has informed about its service enhancements on the Conosur Service (South America West Coast to South America East Coast). This is being upgraded by optimizing its fleet and will herewith enhance our high quality service to you. This is a result, among others, of shifting the vessels Mapocho, Norasia Alya and Carolina Star. They will leave the Conosur Service.

Hapag-Lloyd informed that their vessel Hammonia Massilia Voyage 051W on our Conosur Service (South America West Coast to South America East Coast Service) will be replaced by Niledutch Antwerpen voyage 001W. The plan for the phase in/out is as follows: Hammonia Massilia 051W will phase out at Guayaquil on January 19, 2016 Niledutch Antwerpen 001W will phase in at Callao on January 20, 2016

Hapag-Lloyd and Compania SudAmericana de Vapores (CSAV) secured conditional European Union approval on Thursday for their tie-up to create the world's fourth-largest container shipping company. The merger is important for the shipping industry which hopes more deals could help it to overcome the worst slump on record. And if regulators take a soft line on any concessions required to allow the deal to proceed, this could spur more consolidation in the industry. The European Commission…

New shipping services are being announced as the second berth at DP World London Gateway opens for business. Britain’s newest port doubled its capacity as the second berth began operations in May. Five new shipping routes to North America, South America East Coast and West Coast, the Middle East and Europe are starting. New rail, road and container services are also announced. The G6, one of the world’s largest shipping alliances, will start a new service at DP World London Gateway on Friday, May 16.

Terminal Pacífico Sur Valparaíso in Chile recently purchased three Ship-to-Shore container cranes (STS) from Irish based Liebherr Container Cranes Ltd. These cranes have an outreach of 62 m and a safe working load of 65 t under twin lift spreader. These are the largest container cranes that Liebherr has ever manufactured for the west coast of South America. The cranes allow the terminal to meet shipping companies’ newest requirements, operating on large container vessels such as the CMA CGM Marco Polo container ships.

Responding to changing market conditions and subject to approval by the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC), as from February 2012, Hamburg Süd will restructure its services from North Europe and Mediterranean to Central and South America West Coast as well as to North America West Coast. The new configuration allows for an extensive service scope with connections to the worldwide Hamburg Süd network and likewise delivers significant cost efficiency – with no capacity increase in the market. The current EUROSAL loop 2, featuring eight 1,800 TEU ships, will be upgraded to an eight-vessel system of 3,500 TEU nominal capacity. As today, Hamburg Süd and Hapag-Lloyd will provide three vessels each and CMA CGM two.

After 18 years on the Executive Board of Hamburg Süd, Joachim A Konrad, Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board, is to retire at the end of April, 2012. The Advisory Board of Hamburg Süd has appointed Peter Frederiksen and Frank Smet to succeed him. They will be joining the Executive Board  May 1, 2012. The scale and importance of the duties performed by Joachim A Konrad in past years prompted the Advisory Board to split the scope of responsibilities in the future. Joachim A Konrad’s career in shipping began in 1963 with a traineeship at Norddeutscher Lloyd. Following the amalgamation of Norddeutscher Lloyd and Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft in 1970 to form Hapag-Lloyd…

The Lord Mayor of the City of London, Fiona Woolf, welcomed the foreign direct investment by Dubai’s DP World into London Gateway, while visiting the recently opened deep-sea container port and Europe’s largest logistics park. During her visit, the Lord Mayor, climbed one of the world’s largest quay cranes to have an elevated view of the massive three square mile site, where work is underway for a Common User Facility and other proposed distribution centers. The Right Honorable Fiona Woolf, said, “The Port of London has a vital role in this country’s great trading history.