Start of construction: Keel-laying of the first 23,500+ TEU newbuilding

An important step towards sustainability for our company: At the end of September, the keel-laying ceremony for our first 23,500 TEU newbuilding took place at the South Korean shipyard Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME). On 21 September, the first block of the new “Hamburg Express” was laid down in the floating dock. It will be the first of 12 newbuildings with dual-fuel engines for Hapag-Lloyd. In keeping with an old shipping tradition, coins were symbolically placed in the central block of the “Hamburg Express” by Ms. Choo, the assistant to our on-site construction supervisor. The coins are meant to bring luck to the future mega-ship. The ship is now being built in the dock and is scheduled to be completed by the end of November. The float-out of the approximately 400-metre-long ship is planned for 26 November. Then the ship will be moved to the outfitting pier, where the rest of the work on it will be done. The shipyard plans to deliver the “Hamburg Express” to Hapag-Lloyd in the second quarter of 2023.