Dual-Purpose Ship Receives Officers

In Hamburg, one of the largest training ships in the world, the Chicago Express, has for the first time taken a group of future officers on board – eight nautical officer cadets have reported for duty. The 8,750 TEU container is the second training ship in the Hapag-Lloyd fleet. On August 31, the nautical officer cadets boarded the vessel at Container Terminal Altenwerder. They complete their time at sea (in total one year) towards qualifying to study at a nautical college. On October 19, the ship’s mechanic apprentices, who are learning a skilled trade, will follow. In total, alongside the crew, there will be 15 apprentices on board, aged between 18 and 22, coming from the whole of Germany, plus two training officers. During their deployment on the training ships, Hapag-Lloyd aims to encourage the trainees to get to know other countries, their peoples and cultures. When on shore, they will take part regularly in excursions. The Chicago Express, which was named in Korea in February this year, has a length of 335 m and measures at least 60 m from keel to superstructure. Displacing 104,000 t, she has slots for 8,750 standard containers. The vessel is deployed within the Grand Alliance framework in the Europe-Far East Trade on the round voyage calling Shanghai, Xiamen, Yantian, Hong Kong, Singapore, Southampton, Hamburg, Rotterdam, Port Kelang and again Hamburg.