Hamburg Süd Restructures Trident Service

Hamburg Süd announced today that it is restructuring its Trident Service in response to changing market conditions. The changes are designed to bring reduced network costs.

Cargo to and from Europe - Australia/New Zealand will be served through the well established hub port in Cartagena (Colombia), with tailor-made transhipment connections to/from three weekly North Europe services. Apart from the increased frequency and fast transit times, the new concept will enlarge Hamburg Süd's European port coverage with the following ports: Rotterdam (Netherlands), Tilbury (UK), Hamburg (Germany), Antwerp (Belgium), Le Havre (France).

The transhipment service has been specifically configured so that allocations for the Australia/New Zealand-North Europe cargoes are guaranteed and have priority at all times.

The position which Hamburg Süd has built with their clients in the Transatlantic trade will continue to be served by a stand alone service deploying four vessels of appropriate capacity to cover the target markets. The operation will continue uninterrupted by retaining the ports covered in the Trident Service, enhanced by an additional call in New York.

The rotation will be as follows: Tilbury (UK), Bremerhaven (Germany),Antwerp (Belgium), Philadelphia (US), New York (US), Savannah (US), Tilbury (UK).

Midwest Inland destinations will be serviced through either Philadelphia or New York providing the fastest and most cost efficient intermodal connections westbound from Europe.

The new service configuration ensures that Hamburg Süd will continue to provide premium service in the Transatlantic market, while reducing capacity in line with the sharp decline in volumes which hasbeen witnessed in this trade.

The US East Coast-Australia/New Zealand trade will continue to be covered through an end to end service operated jointly with Maersk Line, employing nine vessels each with a nominal capacity of 2,800 TEU and a reefer plug capacity of 530 plugs.

Calls in Cartagena (Colombia) will be added southbound and northboundin order to link our extensive network of connecting and dedicated feeder services into the US Gulf, US East Coast, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, and now Europe.

The new port rotation will be as follows: Philadelphia (US), Savannah(US), Cartagena (Colombia), Balboa (Panama), Auckland (New Zealand), Sydney (Australia), Melbourne (Australia), Timaru (New Zealand), PortChalmers (New Zealand), Napier (New Zealand), Tauranga (New Zealand),Auckland (New Zealand), Manzanillo (Panama), Cartagena (Colombia), Philadelphia (US).

These new service configurations will be introduced as from May onwards and the change-over has been organized in such a way that service levels will continue uninterrupted at the high standard our customers have come to expect.