Contship Containerlines reveals dates for first sailings in North Europe-Asia

March will see Contship Containerlines launch two fixed-day weekly services between Asia and northern Europe, taking slots from CMA CGM.

The first westbound sailings on the respective services will be the
‘Villa De Tania’ from Shanghai on March 5th and the ‘Mare Africum’
from Qingdao on March 3rd. Eastbound, they will be the ‘Saudi Jeddah’
from Le Havre on March 5th and ‘Cap San Nicholas’ from Hamburg on
March 10th.

Whilst the two new services have many ports in common, one has greater
focus on ports in the East China Sea, whilst the other has a greater
concentration on ports in the Yellow Sea.

The first service currently deploys nine ships of around 4,000 teu
capacity, but from July 2001, will start deploying the first of eight
6,500 teu newbuildings. It calls at: Le Havre, Rotterdam, Hamburg,
Zeebrugge, Southampton, Malta, Damietta, Jeddah, Khor Fakkan,
Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Ningbo, Yantian, Hong Kong, Singapore,
Port Kelang, Jeddah, Malta and Le Havre.

The second service deploys 10 ships ranging from 2,000 to 3,500 teu
capacity. Ports of call are Hamburg, Rotterdam, Zeebrugge, Le Havre,
Malta, Port Kelang, Jakarta, Hong Kong, Qingdao, Dalian, Inchon,
Pusan, Xiamen, Hong Kong, Port Kelang, Damietta, Malta and Hamburg.

Westbound the transit time will be 24 days from Hong Kong to Le Havre and 27 days fromQingdao to Hamburg. Eastbound, Zeebrugge to Hong Kong takes 24 days and Le Havre to Dalian takes 25 days.