Hamburg Süd christens the 'Rio de la Plata', its largest-ever container ship

At the Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) yard in Okpo, Korea, Hamburg Süd has christened the largest-ever container ship in the company's history.

The 'Rio de la Plata' is the first newbuilding in a series of six identical vessels each possessing a slot capacity of 5,900TEU. At a length of 286 metres, the 'Rio' class is precisely one bay longer than the 5,552TEU 'Monte' class vessels. Sponsor of the 'Rio de la Plata' is Marén Schröder, daughter of Dr Ernst F. Schröder, personally liable partner of Dr August Oetker KG, Bielefeld. Following her delivery on April 2, 2008, the 'Rio de la Plata' will initially is phased into Hamburg Süd's Asia - South America East Coast service for a short time before being deployed in the shipping group's Europe - South America East Coast trade. She and her five sister ships will gradually replace the 'Monte' vessels deployed there, which will then connect Asia with South America East Coast. The name chosen for the ship, 'Rio de la Plata', comes from the estuary formed by the major South American rivers Paraná and Uruguay, on which the two key ports of Buenos Aires and Montevideo are situated.

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