Hamburg Süd, CMA CGM and Hapag-Lloyd have announced that they are joining forces to provide a new direct service on the route between the east coast of South America and North Europe.
The service, which kicks off on 6 August 2009, will provide a joint weekly service and means the end of the groups' respective SAFRAN/SAEC services.
According to the shipping companies, the improved service has advantages in that it rationalises capacity to better match the market evolution, it boasts an improved frequency with more vessels deployed at more competitive transit times, and it offers an enlarged and attractive port coverage including calls at Salvador de Bahia and Suape.
Sling 1, which deploys six vessels of 5,900 TEU capacity, consists of calls at Rotterdam, Tilbury, Hamburg, Antwerp, Le Havre, Santos, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Rio Grande, Santos, Suape and Rotterdam.
Sling 2 offers six vessels of 2,800 TEU capacity and has a port rotation of Rotterdam, Hamburg, Antwerp, Le Havre, Sepetiba, Navegantes, Paranagua, Santos, Sepetiba, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Tangier and Rotterdam.
Vessels deployed on the line will run at eco-speed in order to reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions, the groups said.
