The handling of the CSCL Long Beach at the HHLA Container TerminalBurchardkai on August 5 marks the start of a new container service that connects Northern Europe with China and Malaysia.
In the new joint service of the French-Asia-Line 4 (FAL-4) / Asia-Europe-Express-Service 8 (AEX-8), the shipping companies CMA CGM and China Shipping (CSCL) now have a cooperative venture.
FAL-4 / AEX-8 are each deploying four ships from the partner shipping companies each with a capacity of approximately 9,600 TEU. From the AEX-1, CSCL is relocating the CSCL LONG BEACH, XIN HONG KONG, XIN BEIJING and CSCL LE HAVRE; CMA CGM is contributing the newly constructed CMA CGM ORFEO, CMA CGM PELLEAS, CMA CGM BUTTERFLY as well as CMA CGM IVANHOE.
The port rotation in the Far East is as follows: Shanghai, Xiamen, Yantian (Shenzhen), Nansha (Guangzhou) and Port Kelang, from where the service will proceed directly to Zeebrugge and Hamburg. It then returns to Shanghai via Rotterdam. The transit time to Hamburg as of Shanghai in a westward direction is 28 days and only 19 days as of Port Kelang. Due to the vicinity of the important industry and trade location of Guangzhou in the South China Pearl River Delta, considerable cargo volumes are expected right from the start of Nansha port.
The low number of ports of call makes it possible for the ships to have a fuel-saving cruising speed with a roundtrip time of 56 days. Hence FAL-4 / AEX-8 are combining fast service with an ecological operating mode.
On the occasion of the first arrival of the service, the Head of the Hamburg Nautical Centre, Uwe Claassen, together with Niels Harnack, Managing Director CSCL Hamburg and Bengt van Beuningen (Port of Hamburg Marketing) gave the captain of the CSCL LONG BEACH, R. Nayyar, the Hamburg Admiralty Coat of Arms.
In 2007, container traffic with Asia reached a total volume of 5.6 million containers (TEU) in Hamburg. As by far the most important trade partner of the Elbe Port for container traffic, the People's Republic of China has top position with 3.2 million containers (TEU). In the first six months of this year, container traffic of the Port of Hamburg with China increased by 4.8 percent.