HAMBURG's heavy lift cargo and project freight shipping specialist, Rickmers-Linie, has reinstated services to Myanmar with the lifting of trade sanctions against the country, the company announced.

Initially, the country's main port, Yangon, will be served on inducement as part of the company's Indian service and will cater for heavy lift cargo up to 800 tonnes.

Yangon, formerly Rangoon, was once the capital city of Burma - as Myanmar was known then. The city of Naypyidaw, just over 300 kilometres north of Yangon, and said to be one of the world's 10 fastest-growing cities, became Myanmar's capital in 2006. Yangon, with a population of over four million, continues to be the country's largest city and its most important commercial centre.

Gerhard Janssen, Rickmers-Linie's director, sales and marketing, notes that Myanmar's infrastructure, including that of Yangon itself, will require significant improvements to match other major cities in southeast Asia.

"We anticipate longer term that this issue will be addressed. Free of sanctions, Myanmar's economy should develop quickly and an increase in construction activity is inevitable. That will drive demand for breakbulk and project cargo."

The fleet of ships on the Indian service includes the Linde, the Martin and the Baltic Winter, as well as Rickmers Yokohama and the Rickmers Tianjin. While the 2011-built Baltic Winter has a deadweight of 19,800 tonnes and is capable of lifting individual items of cargo up to 800 tonnes in weight, the Linde and the Martin, both built in 2005, are 12,800 deadweight ships each equipped with two 120-tonne capacity cranes that can be twinned to lift 240 tonnes. The 17,000-deadweight sister vessels Rickmers Yokohama and the Rickmers Tianjin each have a maximum lifting capacity of 300 tonnes.