Hamburg Süd Christens Another Polar Class Vessel

German shipping company Hamburg Süd has christened its latest Polar-class containership, Polar Ecuador.

The christening ceremony was held at Belgian New Fruit Wharf in Antwerp on May 20, 2019.

“Antwerp is a highly important port for Hamburg Süd, and the Belgian New Fruit Wharf is a very suitable place for the christening of a ‘Polar’-class vessel,” Frank Smet, Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) of Hamburg Süd, commented.

“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,” he added.

The 52,100 dwt Post-Panamax is deployed 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.

Polar Ecuador belongs to a group of four structurally identical vessels in the Polar class that were built for Hamburg Süd by the Chinese shipyard Jiangsu New Yangzi Shipbuilding.

With a total length of 230 meters and a width of 37.3 meters, the ship offers a container storage capacity of 3,800 TEU and is equipped with 1,000 reefer plugs.

Last month, the company christened Polar Ecuador’s sister vessel, Polar Mexico, in the Mexican port of Veracruz. The christening of Polar Mexico also marked first berthing of a container vessel at the new ICAVE terminal.