The new vessel will add about 12 vessel calls per year and provide more frequent service to Western and Eastern Mediterranean ports of call and to Southeast Asia.
"There is great potential for Louisiana shippers to take advantage of this new service," said Salvador "Tony" Bruno, Hapag-Lloyd's Senior Vice President, Area Gulf Pacific. "This will benefit companies in Louisiana and throughout the region and increase cargo flow through New Orleans."
Hapag-Lloyd operates more than 120 modern container ships in its fleet and transports almost 5 million TEUs annually.
The new vessel joins Hapag-Lloyd's Mediterranean Gulf Express service, which provides fixed-day weekly services to Cagliari, Italy; Livorno, Italy; Genoa, Italy; Fos, France; Barcelona, Spain; Valencia, Spain; Savannah, Georgia; Port Everglades, Florida; Vera Cruz, Mexico; Altamira, Mexico; Houston, Texas and New Orleans, Louisana. The service now employs seven ships.
Hapag-Lloyd's new vessel will bolster an already bustling container business at the Port.
Through the first six months of 2010 the Port realized a 60 percent increase in TEUs (twenty-foot-equivalent units) compared to the same period one year ago. At this pace, the Port's TEU total would top 400,000 at the Napoleon Avenue Container Terminal in 2010. And Port officials are working diligently to expand capacity and services at Napoleon. Two additional container gantry cranes should be delivered early in 2011 at an estimated cost of $26.5 million. The cranes will allow terminal operators to work larger vessels more efficiently. Also, the Board of Commissioners of the Port awarded initial contracts in July for the Napoleon Avenue Stage "C" expansion. The $11.8 million project aims to add acreage and efficiencies to the Napoleon Terminal.