Continuing growth in container transport - New containership for Hapag-Lloyd

The “Kyoto Express”, Hapag-Lloyd’s latest mega containership, has been named in Yokohama and consecrated with the traditional Shinto ceremony. The patron was the wife of NYK Chairman Minako Kusakari.

“The ‘Kyoto Express’ is an innovative ship, is deployed worldwide, bears the name of the most important city in Japan historically and culturally, the imperial city of Kyoto, sails under German flag and belongs to a company that has been a partner of Japanese foreign trade for more than 120 years,” stated Michael Behrendt, chairman of the executive board of Hapag-Lloyd AG, at the naming ceremony in Japan.

After a traditional Shinto ceremony, which has not yet been performed for a ship of this scale, the newbuilding was named in Yokohama by Minako Kusakari, wife of the chairman of the shipping line Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK), Takao Kusakari. Hapag-Lloyd and NYK have been partners for more than about 35 years and cooperate in the Grand Alliance, the leading integrated consortium in international liner shipping.

The “Kyoto Express“ is a giant containership the size of over three football fields: 335m long and 43m wide and over 60m from the keel to the superstructure. The newbuilding with a capacity of 104,000t can carry 8,750 standard containers (TEU) and is thus one of the world’s largest containerships. The main engine with its output of nearly 70,000 kW provides a speed of 25 knots, almost 50 km/h. This ship’s diesel has the size of a comfortable detached house: nearly 25m long, 5m wide and 13m high. The rudder blade measures 74 sq m, while the propeller has a diameter of over 9m. The vessel, which sails under German flag, is manned by a crew of 24.

The “Kyoto Express“ is deployed in the context of the Grand Alliance, providing services between Europe and the Far East on the round route Shanghai, Xiamen, Yantian, Hong Kong, Singapore, Southampton, Hamburg, Rotterdam, Port Kelang and Hong Kong again.

Adolf Adrion, member of the executive board of Hapag-Lloyd AG, assured the over 200 naming ceremony guests that the company will continue to give top priority to customer orientation. “We will meet the wishes and logistics requirements of shippers in a reliable and competitive way and offer the highest quality,” he confirmed. Hapag-Lloyd has been calling at ports in Japan since 1886 and thus provides a traditional link between the Japanese economy and the rest of the world.

The outlook for continued growth in global container transport is excellent. According to Global Insight, world trade will grow by over 7% in the next two years and then by about 6%. Growth rates for container transport will be on the same scale. This is probably a very conservative assumption, as container transport has so far grown significantly faster than world trade. Moreover, relative growth rates are frequently misleading as regards the volumes in absolute terms. Global container volume will be approx. 85m containers this year and is forecast to surge to 104m containers by 2008.

Hapag-Lloyd transported 2.4m standard containers in 2004. The share accounted for by trade with Japan is about 12%. The company offers the Japanese economy ten weekly liner services, connecting the country with all key international transhipment hubs. There are also two intra-Asia links to Jakarta (Indonesia) and Keelung (Taiwan) and to Hong Kong.

Hapag-Lloyd has been present with its own organization in the Land of the Rising Sun since 1964. This has operated as Hapag-Lloyd (Japan) since 1989. The headquarters are in Tokyo, with other offices being located in Yokohama, Nagoya, Kobe and Osaka. The company is present via agents in Hakata, Shimizu and Sendai. It has a total of about 90 employees.

Information on Hapag-Lloyd:

Hapag-Lloyd Group was created in 1970 after the merger of Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt Actiengesellschaft, founded in 1847, with North German Lloyd, established in Bremen in 1857. Today, Hapag-Lloyd belongs to TUI AG and with its 4,100 employees is focused on shipping. In October, it acquired the majority stake in the Canadian shipping line CP Ships. After the integration of CP Ships, which is to be completed by 2007, Hapag-Lloyd will be one of the Top 5 in international container shipping.

In 2004, Hapag-Lloyd achieved sales of €2.7bn and earnings before taxes on income (EBT) of €278m, thereby improving again on its high performance in previous years.

Hapag-Lloyd Container Line, which specializes mainly in the global East-West routes, is regarded as the leader in its sector in terms of customer orientation, service and productivity. Hapag-Lloyd has more than 260 offices in over 90 countries. Its 57 containerships (as of: 11/2005) are deployed primarily on the main routes Europe-Asia, Europe-North America and North America-Asia. Hapag-Lloyd will take delivery of a further seven ships with a capacity of 8,750 TEU up to 2008.

Hapag-Lloyd Cruises is also the leading supplier of luxury and premium cruises in German-speaking countries.