IT IS 335m long and 43m wide and can carry 8,750 containers. Colombo Express, the largest container ship in the world, was named on Monday, April 11 in Singapore. The patron of the new Hapag-Lloyd flagship was Christiane Krumnow, wife of the supervisory board and chairman of TUI AG, Dr. Jürgen Krumnow.
"Global container transport remains a growth market. Today's volume of 71m standard containers is forecast to grow to almost 91m by 2008 an increase of almost 30 per cent or 20m containers. With our fleet expansion programme, we are well equipped to meet the challenges of the future and fully intend to continue to expand our market position," stated Michael Behrendt, chairman of the executive board of Hapag-Lloyd AG, at the naming of the Colombo Express in Singapore.
The naming ceremony was also attended by the Transport Minister of Singapore, Cheow Tong Yeo, and the executive board chairman of TUI AG and the supervisory board chairman of Hapag-Lloyd AG, Dr. Michael Frenzel.
The Colombo Express, built at Hyundai Heavy Industries in Korea, is certainly a ship of superlatives: It is the size of three football fields, has a capacity of 104,000 tons and can carry 8,750 standard containers. Lined up end to end, these containers would stretch for 53 km. The ship's diesel has an output of 68,640 kW or 93,500 hp and generates sufficient electricity to supply a fairly medium-sized town. The engine provides the vessel with a speed of 25 knots, or about 50 km/h.
Hapag-Lloyd is one of the leading container lines worldwide and also operates four cruise ships in the premium and luxury segment including the Europa, rated the world's finest cruise ship by the Berlitz Guide. Its liner shipping network comprises a total of 64 liner services: 14 between Europe and Asia, 12 on the Pacific between Asia and North America, 14 on the Atlantic (Europe United States), five from Europe to South America, 16 within Asia, as well as one within Europe and two between North and South America.
