Contship Aurora Enters Service

The Contship Aurora, one of three newbuildings being introduced into Contship Containerlines' services in the Europe-Australasia trade lane, has successfully completed sea trials and will enter service on September 16th in Auckland, New Zealand. Each of the three new ships will have a container-carrying capacity of 4100 teu, including 1300 reefer plugs. The large reefer capacity of these ships will significantly enhance Contship Containerlines' ability to carry temperature-sensitive cargoes. "With more than a quarter of their total capacity dedicated to reefer cargoes, the new ships are a clear sign of our commitment to invest in the Contship Containerlines brand. In particular, they give further impetus to the development of our northbound reefer activities from Australia and New Zealand," says David Halliday, Senior Vice President of CP Ships' Australasia and Asia Business Unit. The new ships will replace tonnage deployed in Contship Containerlines' Eagle service between Europe, Australia and New Zealand. The retonnaging will also allow Contship Containerlines to restructure the additional services that it operates in this trade. This new system will see five existing services replaced by two contra-rotating round-the-world strings. Both strings will operate a fixed day weekly schedule, one sailing eastbound the other westbound. The eastbound string will sail out from Europe to Australasia via the Suez Canal, returning via the Panama Canal and the East Coast of the USA. In total ten newbuildings operated by Contship and its partners in the trade will be deployed in this string. Three will be provided by Contship, including Contship Aurora. Within the westbound string, which will also sail weekly, ships will sail from Europe to the Pacific Islands and Australasia via the Panama Canal, returning via South East Asia and the Suez Canal. Twelve ships of 2,200 teu average capacity will be deployed in this string with three provided by Contship. Final port rotations for each string are still being concluded and further announcements will be made in the near future. "The Contship Aurora is the first of three new ships that will underscore our long-term commitment to trade between Australia, New Zealand and Europe," added Mr Halliday. "They will be the first newbuildings, purchased by CP Ships to be deployed under the Contship Containerlines brand. By a considerable margin, they will be the largest ships that have been deployed under the Contship Containerlines' brand in any of its multiple trade lanes."