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.