Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries has delivered the third of 10 high reefer capacity vessels of 9,814 TEU to Hamburg Sud, which also owns six of the ships and is chartering the other four.

The newbuilding, Cap San Lorenzo, follows delivery of the Cap San Nicolas and the Cap San Marco, which were both christened in May, reports Alphaliner.

It said these ships are Hamburg Sud's largest and, equipped with 2,100 reefer plugs, they are the world's biggest reefer vessels. They are able to transport 110,000 cubic metres of refrigerated cargo, the equivalent to seven large conventional reefer cargo ships.

The six owned vessels were ordered in March 2011, and the funding for the four other ships was outsourced to Greek company Enesel SA (NS Lemos) through a long-term charter deal with Hamburg Sud.

The fourth ship in the series, the Cap San Augustin, is to be delivered this year, and the remaining two ships that Hamburg Sud owns are due for delivery in January 2014.

The Cap San Lorenzo will be deployed in the new multicarrier Far East-East Coast South America Loop 2 (SEAS 2/ASAX 2/ASAS 2/NGX 2), which is one of three loops started in July by Maersk Line, CMA CGM, Hamburg Sud, CSAV, CSCL and Hanjin Shipping, as part of a restructuring of existing services.

The six container shipping lines are operating the three weekly services with a total of 33 ships ranging in size from 6,500 to 9,800 TEU. (Source: Seanews)