RICKMERS Line has added to its eastbound Hamburg-India service that calls at ports in Mumbai and Chennai five new ships with crane capacities combined of between 240 and 800 tons since its launch in June, reports New York's MarineLink.com.
Furthermore, Hapag Lloyd and Hamburg Sud shipping lines have boosted the capacity on their joint service between Hamburg and India by deploying larger ships. The seven 4,200-TEU ships used on the India Ocean Service (IOS) will be switched for larger vessels of 5,500 TEU. The IOS serves the Indian ports of Mumbai-Nhava Sheva and Mundra.
The report said Chipolbrok shipping company is also expanding its Middle East-India service to Mumbai by adding Chennai as an unloading port in December. Multi-purpose ships with onboard cranes with a total lifting capacity of 300 tons are deployed on this service.
In other news, the Hamburg Joint Representative Office in Mumbai was officially opened in November, to strengthen economic, cultural and academic links between the two countries. It is supported by Port of Hamburg Marketing, the Hamburg Senate and the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce.
In 2010 around 2.6 million tons were transported between Hamburg and India. The volume of cargo handled between Hamburg and India rose by around 23 per cent last year compared to 2009, with exports making up about 48 per cent of total tonnage. Container throughput totalled 180,000 TEU in 2010. Box volumes rose by 11 per cent in the first nine months of this year to 148,000 TEU.