[090710.EN.SEA] More Cellular Ships - Big & Small - Stream Into Service

SWOLLEN orderbooks of yesteryear continue to produce a steady stream of new capacity, but most of it appears to be immediately assigned to services as bunker-busting slow steaming absorbs more tonnage as the peak season gathers steam.

Among the noteworthy arrivals of June was news of Marseilles' CMA CGM taking charge the CMA CGM Rabelais, four of five 6,554-TEU ships ordered in August 2006 from Sungdong Shipyard,Korea's  first delivered to Danaos Shipping of Greece, which were then chartered to the French carrier.

Vancouver-based and New York-listed Seaspan Corp has taken its 53rd ship the 8,500- TEU COSCO Indonesia, reports London's Containerisation International.

The ship is bound for 12-year Coscon fixed-rate time charter, joining six other ships on hire. Seaspan has 16 more containerships on order to be delivered over two years.

The new ship has been assigned to the Columbus/TP-3/TP-9 Service jointly operated by CMA CGM and Maersk, reports Paris-based Alphaliner. The Rabelais follows the CMA CGM Nerval, which was delivered in May.

The 6,477-TEU CMA CGM Lamartine has also been delivered. It is the third of four same-sized ships from Hanjin Heavy Industries, which were also ordered in August 2006. It will join CMA CGM's Far East-Med MEX service.

Lamartine follows these with the Miramarin, first named CMA CGM Kessel, which was sold during construction to the Greek owner Drytank and delivered in January.

The 4,380-TEU Lania has also been delivered and joins CSAV's Cyprus-based Marlow Navigation Co, which has received the first of two ships, ordered in October 2007 by German investors, from the DSME Shipyard (Daewoo).

The Lania is to join her charterer CSAV for assignment to the East Asia - Mexico - Caribbean - NCSA service operated by CMA CGM, CSCL and CSAV (PEX 2/AAE 2/JCS). This brings to 10 the number of ships built in the Daewoo 4400 series. This ship follows the Mereda, which was delivered in June.

The 4,253-TEU Kota Lumba has also been delivered to PIL which has received it as the 13th unit in a series ordered at the Dalian New Shipyard in several steps between March 2004 and March 2007.

The Kota Lumba will join the PIL-Wan Hai FE-North Europe service (FES), in which she replaces the 3,330-TEU Northern Trust, which filled a sailing gap. The Kota Lumba follows the Kota Lumayan, delivered in June.

The 997-TEU Vega Scorpio, from the Chinese Zhejiang Yangfan Shipping Group, has been delivered and joins Grand China Logistics (GCL) on assignment to the China - Thailand - Vietnam service offered by GCL and Mainland Navigation (TVH).

Vega Scorpio is the 23rd unit in a series of cellular ships from 957 to 997 TEU and follows the Vega Aquila, delivered in April 2009.

Other cellular vessels delivered in June include the 14,000-TEU CPO Genova to MSC; the 14,000-TEU MSC Melatilde to MSC; the 9,954-TEU Hanjin Korea to Hanjin Shipping; the 8,500-TEU Bunga Seroja Tiga to APL; the 6,724-TEU MOL Maxim to MOL.

The 6,400-TEU San Francisco Bridge to "K" Line; the 5,089-TEU Tian Sheng He to Cosco; the 5,089-TEU Tian Jin He to Cosco; the 5,089-TEU Tian An He to Cosco; the 5,089-TEU Tian An Kang He to Cosco; the 5,086-TEU RHL Fidelitas to CSAV; the 4,922-TEU NYK Rumina to NYK.

The 4,578-TEU OOCL Savannah to OOCL, 4,578-TEU OOCL Jakarta to OOCL, the 4,432-TEU Bay Bridge to "K" Line; the 4,380-TEU MOL Diamond to MOL; the 4,380-TEU Mereda to CSAV, the 4,253-TEU CSAV Lebu to CSAV; the 4,253-TEU Kota Lumayan to PIL.

The 2,758-TEU Calandra to Hainan, the 1,732-TEU PO Viking Kestrel (recipient unavailable); the 1,713-TEU Maersk Wolgast to Maersk, the 1,708-TEU Maersk Walvis Bay to Maersk; the 1,043-TEU Star Skipper to Namsung.

The 1,036-TEU AS Franconia to Hai Win, the 877-TEU Marman to MCC and the 707-TEU Nasico Blue whose recipient is also unavailable.

Source : HKSG, 09.07.10.