On 14th April the Evergreen Group held the naming ceremony for the 99,946gt/8,508 TEU capacity Ever Lyric, the eighth of its Ltype vessels built by CSBC Corporation in Taiwan. The ceremony took place at CSBC’s Kaohsiung shipyard and was officiated by Raymond Lin, Evergreen Group’s Vice Group Chairman. The official rope-cutting at the ceremony was performed by Jarijanti Buana, the wife of the Chairman of Evergreen Shipping Agency Indonesia. The Ever Lyric is 334.8m in length, 45.8m wide, with a draft of 14.2m. The vessel can cruise at a speed up to 24.5 knots. As a refinement to the original eco-friendly design, the newbuild is fitted with a brand new energy-saving bow. This improvement enables the ship to further enhance the fuel-efficiency and reduce emissions. After delivery on 15th April the vessel joined Evergreen Line’s Far East- Red Sea Service (FRS), replacing an older ship. The remaining two newbuildings are being built by CSBC and will be delivered by the third quarter of 2015.Hanjin’s 141,754gt/2013 built and 13,092 TEU capacity Hanjin Green Earth was doused with water on 2nd May for three hours after a fire broke out in a cargo hold off the Suez Canal. The ship was 48 km to the south of the canal when some containers caught fire. Navigation in the canal was unaffected by the incident.

Hapag-Lloyd announced on 19th April that it had ordered five post-Panamax 10,500 TEU container ships from the South Korean shipyard Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries, to be deployed on South American routes once the expanded Panama Canal opens. The ships are to be built at the yard in Samho, on the south coast of Korea. The newbuilds will be deployed primarily on South American routes. The expansion of the Panama Canal is one of the biggest civil engineering projects in the world allowing the passage of larger container vessels of up to 14,000 TEU. The ships are scheduled for delivery between October 2016 and May 2017. The company commenced a new feeder service between Piraeus, Greece and Beirut, Lebanon as of 27th April using the 17,964gt/2007 built third party feeder vessel King Byron. In addition, Hapag-Lloyd is planning to launch a series of new products between Asia and the western and eastern coasts of Latin America from July onwards. These services will employ over 50 ships in all, with Hapag-Lloyd contributing 20 of them. This includes CSAV’s seven efficient 9,300 TEU newbuildings. The company has also launched a new Turkey-Israel Express Service (TIX) to further enhance the line’s port coverage in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. The first sailing of the weekly service was on 5th May from Mersin in Turkey. The TIX initially links five ports in Egypt, Israel and Turkey including the hub ports Damietta, Port Said, Mersin and Haifa plus Iskenderun from June. The service is operated by one 810 TEU capacity ship, including 150 reefer plugs.

JSV Logisitic announced a new container service between the Spanish port of Pasaia and Tilbury on 15th April. The freight will include containerised steel and paper products along with a mix of chemicals, autoparts and perishables. The new service commenced on 23rd April with a weekly rotation of Pasaia-Tilbury-Antwerp-Pasaia.

On 23rd April Tilbury also announced that Oldenburg-Portugiesische Dampfschiffs- Rhederei (OPDR) and X-Press Feeder had expanded their Bilbao route into Tilbury.

Maersk Line’s 92,198gt/2007 built Susan Maersk ran aground on a sand bank on 19th April in the Suez Canal while en-route to the Mediterranean Sea. The ship was pulled free and she continued her voyage. The 108,051gt/2014 built bulk carrier Margaret Oldendorff, also ran aground in the same convoy but managed to free herself. The 89,505gt/2012 built and 8,700 TEU capacity container ship Maersk Londrina caught fire while en route from Malaysia to Brazil on 25th April, forcing the vessel to divert to Mauritius. The ship was en-route from Tanjung Pelepas to Santos when the fire was discovered in one of the cargo holds some 700 nautical miles off Port Louis, Mauritius. The ship reached Port Louis on 27th April where the fire was fully extinguished and investigations to establish the reason and extent of damage were initiated. The following day the 51,872gt/2014 built Maersk Tigris was approached by Iranian forces in the Strait of Hormuz and ordered into Iranian waters. The ship initially ignored the patrol boats but complied when warning shots were fired. U.S. forces in the region responded to distress calls from the Maersk Tigris, sending the destroyer USS Farragut to monitor the situation along with reconnaissance aircraft. Rickmers Shipmanagement subsequently denied claims by Iranian authorities that the Maersk Tigris was detained because the company managing it owes an Iranian firm money. The 5,466 TEU capacity ship was delivered in December 2014, and is owned by Oaktree, on charter to Maersk, managed by Rickmers Ship Management and flagged with the Marshall Islands. The ship was bound for Jebel Ali, 22 miles southwest of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and her crew of 24 were reported as safe. Maersk Line was also unaware of any existing disputes that might affect the vessel however, further discussions revealed a link to a cargo dispute of 10 years ago. In January 2005, 10 containers were delivered to Dubai by Maersk Line for an Iranian company. Maersk said the containers were not collected by the consignee or any other party and, in accordance with United Arab Emirates laws, the cargo was disposed of after 90 days by local authorities. After much discussion, reports suggested that permission to release the ship, anchored off Bandar Abbas, was granted on 7th May after Maersk Line delivered a letter of guarantee for the enforcement of the judicial decision. The Maersk Tigris then sailed to Jebel Ali (UAE). Since this seizure U.S. Navy warships have been accompanying British-flagged and U.S-flagged commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz. In early May it was reported that AP Moller-Maersk was about to order 6-12 20,000 TEU capacity ultra-large container ships (ULCS) from South Korean shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME). Six are thought to have been booked for delivery during 2017 at $155 million per vessel.

The Seaspan Corporation accepted delivery of the 144,651gt and 14,000 TEU capacity containership YM Wellhead around mid- April. This new containership, which was constructed at Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd., is Seaspan’s second 14,000 TEU SAVER design containership and third delivery in 2015. The YM Wellhead has commenced a ten-year, fixed-rate time charter with Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp. (Yang Ming). Yang Ming may extend the charter for up to an additional two years. The ship is the second of a total of eight 14,000 TEU SAVER design vessels to be chartered by Seaspan to Yang Ming. The delivery of the YM Wellhead expands Seaspan’s operating fleet to 80 vessels. On 13th April Seaspan entered into contracts with Hanjin Heavy Industries Corporation Philippines (HHIC-PHIL) for the construction of five 11,000 TEU containerships for an aggregate purchase price of approximately USD 467.5 million. These five vessels are scheduled for delivery throughout 2017 and each is on a 17-year charter, at the conclusion of which the operator plans to purchase each vessel at a pre-determined amount. On April 27, 2015, Seaspan entered into further contracts with Jiangsu Xinfu and Jiangsu New Yangzi Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. for the construction of two 10,000 TEU containerships for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $186 million. These vessels are scheduled for delivery in 2017 and will be constructed using Seaspan’s SAVER design.

TOTE’s first newbuild completed by General Dynamics NASSCO was launched on 18th April. The 39,000gt and 3,100 TEU capacity Isla Bella is also the world’s first LNG-powered containership. More than 3,400 shipbuilders, their families, and others attended the special event at the San Diego-based shipyard. The ship, part of a two-ship contract, was built for TOTE at what is the last major yard still in existence on the USA’s west coast. The 233m long and 22 knot Isla Bella was also NASSCO’s 100th launch, is equipped with MAN engines and is scheduled to operate between Jacksonville, Florida and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The United Arab Shipping Co. (UASC) named the largest and newest member of its burgeoning container shipping fleet, the 193,300gt/18,800 TEU Barzan, at Hyundai Samho Heavy industries’ Mokpo ship yard in South Korea on 30th April. The DNV GLclassed Barzan represents the first of six UASC ships of this class to be deployed as part of the Ocean Three’s service offering on the Asia-Europe trade on order with the South Korean shipbuilder. On top of the six 18,800 TEU vessels, Hyundai Samho has also been assigned with the construction of a further 11 ships of 15,000 TEU, the first of which was delivered towards the end of 2014. All 17 vessels have been designed with the ability to switch fuel to LNG if that becomes commercially feasible. That makes Barzan officially the world’s largest LNGready ultra large container vessel plus the most energy-efficient ship of her size to date. UASC said that all 17 LNG-ready vessels are scheduled for delivery by 2016 and, upon delivery, UASC will become the world’s 11th-largest container shipping line. When asked, a UASC spokesperson said that the Ocean Three alliance could become Ocean Four in the near future if Hamburg Süd joins. UASC started services to London Gateway on the South America 2 service (SAM2) from 17th April as part of an existing fixed day weekly service from DP World London Gateway calling at leading ports in Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. Key ports on the service include Paranagua (Brazil), Buenos Aires (Argentina), Montevideo (Uruguay), Rio Grande (Brazil), Itapoa (Brazil) and Santos (Brazil). The sailing time from Santos to London Gateway is 18 days.