On July 23, 2011, as part of a customer event, Hamburg S'd christened the container ship Santa Cruz in Shanghai. Sponsor of the Santa Cruz was Heike Schmidt, wife of Dr Heino Schmidt, Member of the Executive Board of Hamburg S'd.

The Santa Cruz is the fourth newbuilding of a series of ten identical container vessels each featuring a slot capacity of 7,100 TEU and fitted with 1,600 reefer container plugs. This makes her one of the largest ships ever built for Hamburg S'd. All ten vessels in this series are to be delivered by late 2012.

Since her delivery at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. Ltd. (DSME) in Korea in early May 2011, the Santa Cruz has been operating in Hamburg S'd's service between Asia and South Africa/South America East Coast (New Good Hope Express).

The Santa Cruz is named after one of the four provinces in the Argentinian part of Patagonia. Argentina is one of Hamburg S'd's most important markets in South America.