Hapag-Lloyd Record Container Ship Docks at North Sea Terminal

24 September 2023 - On Sunday, September 24, Hapag-Lloyd's "Manila Express" docked at our North Sea Terminal. This megamax ship with a capacity of 23,666 TEU commenced its maiden voyage to Northern Europe on August 7 from Ningbo. The "Manila Express" is one of ten new flagship vessels of Hapag-Lloyd capable of running on LNG and the first in this series to arrive in Northern Europe.

The "Manila Express" is part of the FE3 Service operated by THE Alliance (the alliance between Hapag-Lloyd, ONE, Yang Ming, and HMM) between the Far East and Europe. It replaces the considerably smaller "Rome Express" with a capacity of 13,371 TEU, which, in turn, is being reassigned to the AG3 Service between the Far and Middle East, replacing the "Berlin Express" (23,666 TEU), which also became part of the FE3 fleet in August. The first call of the "Berlin Express" in Antwerp is scheduled for early October, following its official christening in Hamburg.

ONE Integrity

The FE3 Service is the same liner service in which Ocean Network Express (ONE) has deployed three megamax ships of 24,136 TEU each this year to replace smaller vessels. After the arrival of the "ONE Innovation" at our North Sea Terminal on July 19 and the "ONE Infinity" earlier this month, the "ONE Integrity" is expected this weekend.

Upon completion of the capacity increase for the FE3 service by the end of this year, the average capacity will be almost 50% higher than before. At that point, our North Sea Terminal will handle two Far East services of THE Alliance (FE3 and FE4) with ships measuring 400 meters in length on a weekly basis. The third service (FE5) will continue to operate with "smaller" vessels of 14,000 TEU (366 meters in length).

Did you know... we also use our container cranes for loading and unloading breakbulk cargo? On the "Manila Express," we loaded both a piece weighing 47 tons and a piece weighing 75 tons.