Hamburg Süd, CMA CGM and Hapag-Lloyd to launch a new common service

 Hamburg Süd, CMA CGM and Hapag-Lloyd announced the launch of a new direct service on the route between the East Coast of South America and North Europe. As of August 6th 2009, the lines will provide a joint weekly service of 2 loops, replacing their respective SAFRAN/SAEC services and featuring 3 major changes:

• A rationalization of their capacity on this trade to better match the market evolution.
• An improved frequency with more vessels deployed as well as more competitive transit times.
• An enlarged and attractive port coverage with the introduction of two new port calls at Salvador de Bahia and Suape.
Vessels will run at eco-speed in order to reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.
The rotation will be as follows:
Sling 1 : Rotterdam – Tilbury – Hamburg – Antwerp – Le Havre – Santos – Buenos Aires – Montevideo – Rio Grande – Santos – Suape – Rotterdam
Sling 2 : Rotterdam – Hamburg – Antwerp – Le Havre – Sepetiba – Navegantes – Paranagua – Santos – Sepetiba - Rio de Janeiro – Salvador – Tangier – Rotterdam
Sling 1 will deploy 6 vessels of 5.900 TEU capacity (operated by Hamburg Süd) and Sling 2 will deploy 6 vessels of 2.800 TEU (4 operated by CMA CGM and its partner, 2 by Hapag-Lloyd).
The first sailings will be performed by HAMBURG SUD RIO NEGRO, calling Rotterdam on August 6th 2009 for Sling 1 and CMA CGM VIOLET calling Rotterdam on August 9th for Sling 2.

(Source: Transport Weekly)