Page 40 - Port Of Hamburg Magazine 01.2018

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40 | Port of Hamburg Magazine | March 2018
Happy Birthday IRISL
It is not only Hamburg, with the container, that has every reason to wel- come a 50th anniversary in 2018. The Iranian state shipping company IRISL also celebrates its 50th birthday this year. Germany is traditionally Iran’s largest Western trading partner, and the Port of Hamburg plays a key role in relations between the two countries. For generations, close and friendly connections have existed in Hamburg with Iranian companies and organi- zations. Even the trade sanctions between 2009 and 2016 were unable to sever the tight bond. After relaxation of sanctions, IRISL inaugurated the
ECL Europe Container Line service between Ham- burg and the Persian Gulf in March 2016. Berthing at Eurogate, the ‘Azargoun’ (photo) was the first Iranian containership to call in the Port of Hamburg for ten years. A multi-purpose service followed just a month later, handled as previously by Ham- burg liner agency Peter W. Lampke at C. Stein- weg’s Süd-West Terminal. The volume of Iranian cargo in Hamburg has since climbed steeply again. Container volume rose from 600 to over 11,700 TEU in 2016, and indeed to over 16,000
TEU in the first three quarters of 2017.
© HHM/Hasenpusch
CMA CGM CHOOSES LNG FOR ITS MEGA-CONTAINER- SHIPS
French shipowner CMA CGM has ordered nine new me- ga-containerships. Each of these will be capable of loading up to 22,000 TEU, a total unmatched by any previous con- tainerships. The company’s present flagship, the ‘CMA CGM Bougainville’ (photo), transports around 18,000 TEU. Current- ly seen as the world record holders are OOCL newbuilds such as the 21,413-TEU ‘OOCL Hong Kong’. This order for new- builds is therefore of itself worth reporting. Yet what’s special is that the new ships will be run with Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). That makes CMA CGM the first container liner shipping company to have its ships equipped with this environmentally friendly propulsion technology. So far the pioneering role has been played by cruise-ship operators. To operate a vessel with LNG improves her ecological footprint by at least 20 percent.
Hamburg Port Authority also welcomes and promotes the envi- ronment-friendly fuel with concessions on port dues.
© CMA CGM