[220311.EN.SEA] Hamburg Sud Expands Transatlantic West Coast Americas Service

GERMANY's Hamburg Sud and Chile's Compania Chilena de Navegacion Interoceanica (CCNI) have expanded their joint transatlantic Panama-North America west coast service from north Europe.

The WAMS service has been linking the North American west coast and the Central American west coast, including Mexico, with Cartagena in Colombia since the beginning of 2010, said a company statement.

The expanded service now includes Hamburg and other ports in northern Europe. In 2010, Hamburg's container traffic with North and Central America increased 16 per cent year on year.

The expanded service will use 10 ships of 1,700 TEU each. Hamburg Sud will contribute eight and CCNI two.

The 70-day rotation is Hamburg, Le Havre, Cartagena, Long Beach, Oakland, Seattle, Vancouver, Oakland, Long Beach, Manzanillo, Lazaro Cardenas, Puerto Quetzal, Cartagena, Tangier, Rotterdam, Tilbury and back to Hamburg.

At the end of a one-month journey, the Cap Palmeston was the first ship in the expanded North America West Coast (WAMS) service operated by Hamburg Sud to reach Hamburg.

The vessel was handled and cleared at the HHLA Container Terminal Burchardkai. The journey through the Panama Canal and on to Europe covered a distance of about 10,000 nautical miles.

On the occasion of the arrival of the first ship, the 1,700-TEU Cap Palmerston, in the new service at Hamburg, Port Captain Jorg Pollmann presented the master Mario Pamute, with an admiralty plaque with the coat of arms of the Port of Hamburg.

Representatives of Hamburg Sud and the Port of Hamburg Marketing were also on board to welcome the new service.

"By including Hamburg in the expanded WAMS service, Hamburg Sud can now offer a fast, direct connection with comprehensive port coverage between northern Europe and the US west coast. 

Moreover, the inclusion of the two hub ports of Tangier and Cartagena provides outstanding connections to the Caribbean Basin, the east and west coasts of South America and the eastern Mediterranean, the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent," said Hamburg Sud's Uwe Gaede, regional director of marketing and sales.

Source : HKSG, 22.03.11.