World’s Largest Containership Arrives in Hamburg

 

The Port of Hamburg will handle a 19,100-TEU vessel for the first time, as CSCL Globe, currently the world’s largest containership operating in a liner service, is ported in Hamburg from January 13-15 on its maiden voyage deployed in the Europe-East Asia trade.

 

This year, China is due to again further expand its position as Hamburg’s leading trading partner for container traffic, the port noted. On the basis of the first evaluation of 2014 throughput figures for container traffic with China, Port of Hamburg Marketing assumes that the three-million-TEU mark will be reached.

 

When fully loaded the CSCL Globe has dimensions of around 400 meters length, 59 meters wide and a draft of 16 meters. A slot capacity of 19,100 TEU makes this newbuild for China Shipping Container Lines one of the world’s largest containerships. The Hyundai Heavy Industries shipyard in South Korea will be delivering her four sisterships in the course of this year. This enormous containership will be discharging and loading around 11,000 TEU during her first call at Eurogate Container Terminal Hamburg. 

 

“During the next few years we are reckoning with ongoing growth on the East Asia-Europe trade route and want to further expand our market share on this rotation. The Port of Hamburg plays a crucial part in this as a cargo source and transhipment hub – currently we are in Hamburg every week with seven services,” said Niels Harnack, Managing Director of China Shipping Agency (Germany) GmbH, as the CSCL GLOBE made her maiden call at Eurogate Container Terminal Hamburg. He also emphasized, however, that the dredging and widening of the navigation channel on the Lower and Outer Elbe is urgently required so that the transport chains can be run even more efficiently. “Since the draft restrictions make it impossible for our newbuilds to sail on the Elbe fully laden, we have to leave part of the cargo in Rotterdam,” Harnack explained. One extra meter of draft on the Elbe would enable mega-containerships such as the CSCL Globe to transport more than 1,000 TEU more. The AEX 1 liner service on which the CSCL GLOBE is deployed, serves the following ports: Tianjin, Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, Nansha, Yantian, Singapore, Port Kelang, Felixstowe, Rotterdam, Hamburg and Zeebrugge.

 

Hamburg’s container traffic is dominated by the boxes imported from or exported to China through Germany’s largest universal port. Almost one in three of the containers handled in the Port of Hamburg originates from China or is commencing its ocean voyage to China. “After completing our evaluation of the complete throughput figures for 2014, we are assuming that we shall reach the three-million mark on container traffic with China,” forecasts Axel Mattern, Port of Hamburg Marketing Executive Board Member. Totaling 2.3 million TEU in the first nine months of 2014, container traffic with China in Hamburg produced an impressive 12.8 percent growth. On both the import and export sides, food and beverages, chemical products, machinery and equipment as well as household appliances, wooden goods, paper, pulp and printed matter, metals and metal products were among the main cargos transported. 

 

“Continued growth in container traffic and the increasing deployment of especially large containerships in the China trade are meanwhile dramatically underlining that we are unable to wait any longer for the dredging and widening of the navigation channel on the Lower and Outer Elbe. Deepening of the channel must at all costs commence in 2015,” Mattern said.

 

During the first call by the CSCL GLOBE in Hamburg, China Shipping Vice President Yu Zenggang was confident that the requested deepening of the Elbe navigational channel and also the enlargement of the Waltershofer turning circle to 600 meters will be implemented. “Especially important for mega-containerships, these infrastructure measures are also of great significance for our clients, who rely on Hamburg,” Yu Zenggang emphasized. 

 

Along with the dominant throughput volume, the total of more than 500 Chinese companies meanwhile entered in the city’s Commercial Register also indicates that foreign trade with China is deeply rooted in Hamburg. More than 700 Hamburg companies in Hamburg also maintain business relations with China. Of these, around 140 are directly represented in the People’s Republic by their own branch, an agent or a business unit. Port of Hamburg Marketing is present in Shanghai and in Hong Kong with its own representative office.