CMA CGM Group has assigned one of its latest fleet additions, the 10,622 TEU 95,793gt/2014 built CMA CGM Tigris, to the Port of Santos in Brazil. This makes CMA CGM the first carrier to introduce a vessel of such a capacity in Brazil and the ship made her first call on the SEAS2 service on 6th February. The line has 13 ports of call connecting Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay to China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and South Africa within 90 days. The CMA CGM Tigris was delivered on 23rd December 2014 in China. The 9,365 TEU CMA CGM Loire and 10,622 TEU CMA CGM Ural, the fifth and sixth in a newbuild series of twenty-eight vessels of 9,400-10,900 TEU capacity, were delivered in February. The Danube, Elbe, Litani and Tigris were the first in this series, all named after famous rivers of the world. Sailing under the Malta flag and chartered vessels, the Loire and Ural were built in the Chinese shipyards Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co., and New Times Shipbuildings, respectively.

The Loire has a nominal capacity of 9,365 TEU and the Ural a 10,622 TEU capacity. The remaining twenty-three container ships are expected to be delivered throughout 2015 and the first three quarters of 2016. Indeed, the seventh ship, the 300m long/48m wide CMA CGM Rhone, embarked upon her maiden voyage on 20th February from the shipyard in Dalian, China.

Hamburg Süd officially signed a Sale & Purchase Agreement to acquire the container liner activities of Compañía Chilena de NavegaciónInteroceánica S.A. (CCNI) on 17th February, including the related general agency functions of Agunsa Agencias Universales S.A, (Agunsa), with headquarters in Valparaiso and Santiago de Chile. The take-over of the CCNI/Agunsa business is, subject to appro val by the competent antitrust authorities, scheduled to become effective at the end of March 2015.

DP World London Gateway received the largest container ship to visit the River Thames on 26th February. Maersk Line’s 194,849gt/2014 built, 399m long and 60m wide Munkebo Maersk visited having repositioned from Felixstowe whilst operating Maersk’s new East-West Network. The ship’s call came just two weeks after DP World announced that it is moving forward with plans for a new 400m third berth at London Gateway, scheduled to be operational in the second half of 2016.

Maersk Line’s planned orders for new vessels are likely to have a larger capacity (18,270 TEU) than their first generation Triple-E predecessors but this will be down to new technologies and not the result of a new breed of container vessels. Maersk Line announced a 55% increase in annual profits to $2,341 million for 2014 and, in total Maersk Line has $3 billion a year to invest between 2015 and 2019 with large and midrange tonnage planned. Meanwhile, on 17th February Maersk Line’s 92,198gt/1997 built Susan Maersk became the first Maersk vessel to call at Southampton on the new AE9 service as part of the 2M Alliance. The 10,000 TEU S Class representatives may be replaced by 12,000 TEU ships with the 141,716gt/2010 built Maersk Emden making a call on 2nd April. Triple E ship Matz Maersk (194,849gt/2014 built) was also earmarked for a call on 5th April making her the first of the Maersk giants to visit the Solent and Southampton.

Hapag-Lloyd’s 35,919gt/1989 built Bonn Express shut down her engine for the final time on 4th February on the beaches of Aliağa, Turkey. She will now be dismantled by experts in line with environmental regulations. The 235m long/32m beam ship was built at the HDW Shipyard in Kiel along with the Heidelberg Express. The latter ship is next to be disposed of this summer.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL) signed a deal at the beginning of March for construction of four 20,000 TEU containerships with Samsung Heavy Industries at $154.9 million per vessel. MOL also concluded an MOU for long-term chartering of two 20,000 TEU containerships with Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd. The two containerships will be built at Imabari Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. The six vessels will be launched and delivered in 2017, and will serve the Asia-Europe service. The 400m long and 58.8m wide ships will have a 16m draught, 20,150 TEU capacity and will be powered by an LNG ready MAN B&W G95ME engine.

MSC’s 192,237gt/19,224teu/396m long MSC Oscar arrived at Rotterdam on 3rd March on her maiden call from Algeciras and departed again for Bremerhaven the next day followed by a call at Felixstowe on 9th March.