Hamburg Süd announced that it christened the ‘Polar Ecuador’ container ship in Antwerp. The ship belongs to a group of four structurally identical vessels in the ‘Polar’ class that have been built for Hamburg Süd by the Chinese shipyard Jiangsu New Yangzi Shipbuilding.
‘Polar Ecuador’ features a total length of 230 meters and a width of 37.30 meters, while it also offers a container storage capacity of 3,800 TEU and is equipped with 1,000 reefer plugs.
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The sponsor of the vessel is Sonia Van de Vyvere, wife of Philippe Van de Vyvere, owner and CEO of SEA-invest, one of the world’s largest terminal operators for dry bulk, liquid bulk and reefer cargo, including Belgian New Fruit Wharf.
Commenting on the christening, Frank Smet, Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) of Hamburg Süd, noted that:
After all, with more than 1,000 reefer plugs, the ‘Polar Ecuador’ transports a disproportionately large volume of refrigerated cargo for a container vessel of this size from Mexico and the Caribbean to Antwerp. This includes, for example, bananas, pineapples and melons, which are handled particularly efficiently and professionally by the fruit and reefer specialists here
The ‘Polar Ecuador’ will operate in Hamburg Süd’s North Europe – Mexico/Caribbean service (EMCS), which connects Antwerp and other European ports in Ireland, Great Britain and Germany with Mexican and Caribbean ports.