ZIM Hamburg container vessel provides greater transport capacity and a larger number of reefer container connections from the North Continent to Israel
The North Europe Service 1 (NE-1) run by the shipping companies ZIM Integrated Shipping Services and MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company is the most important liner service linking Hamburg weekly with Israel via the Mediterranean Sea. Transport volume has been growing continuously since 2007, in all by around 21 per cent. In 2013 around 62,000 TEU (20-ft standard containers) were transported on seaborne container services along this route.
ZIM had already extended and restructured the NE-1 service at the beginning of 2013 in reaction to rising quantities and market requirements. Being deployed for the first time in the liner service from July onwards, the ZIM Hamburg will provide greater transport capacity and a larger number of reefer container connections. The vessel is replacing a smaller one previously operating on this service.
The ZIM Hamburg berthed for the first time at Eurogate Container Terminal Hamburg (CTH) on 7 July. From there she will regularly be operated on the following port rotation: Antwerp, Le Havre, Ashdod, Alexandria, Haifa, Ashdod, Valencia, Felixstowe, Rotterdam and back again to Hamburg. The main cargoes shipped via Hamburg will be food and beverages, chemical products and machinery and equipment. From Israel, chemical products, food and beverages, and products of agriculture, forestry, hunting, forestry and fisheries will be shipped.
The ZIM Hamburg has a slot capacity of 6,350 TEU, including 500 for reefer containers. The ship was built in Japan, being delivered in May, 2009, and is 293 metres long, with a beam of 40 metres and a draft fully laden of 14 metres. ¡°With the introduction of this new and larger ship we have adapted NE-1 to market requirements in respect of slot capacity and increased availability of reefer container connections,¡± stressed Norbert Trapp, managing director of ZIM Germany GmbH.