Hamburg is now included for the first time as a port of call for Maersk's AE-8 (Asia-Europe) service. Ships in the Maersk's AE-1 service already call at the port, but with the growing importance of Hamburg as a significant stopover for vessels from Asia, the Danish line decided to go one better.
The AE-1 and AE-8 Far East services have been running since March 2008. They use a fleet of 18 container ships between them, with a slot space capacity of between 8,200 and 8,650 TEUs. After each round trip, the ships of the AE-1 and AE-8 services change over to the other circuit.
The Sarnia (above) was the first Maersk vessel operating in the AE-8 service to arrive at Hamburg. Built at the shipyard of Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries in Kure, Japan, the Sarnia is 335.50m long and 42.8m wide and has a slot capacity of 8,466 TEUs, plus 700 connections for reefer containers.
The AE-1 and AE-8 Far East services have been running since March 2008. They use a fleet of 18 container ships between them, with a slot space capacity of between 8,200 and 8,650 TEUs. After each round trip, the ships of the AE-1 and AE-8 services change over to the other circuit.
The Sarnia (above) was the first Maersk vessel operating in the AE-8 service to arrive at Hamburg. Built at the shipyard of Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries in Kure, Japan, the Sarnia is 335.50m long and 42.8m wide and has a slot capacity of 8,466 TEUs, plus 700 connections for reefer containers.