The MSC LEIGH is one of a total of six containerships which are used in the first of MSC's two regular container services, or loops, between Northern Europe and the east coast of South America, and which will now be handled at the Eurogate Container Terminal Hamburg (CTH) on a weekly basis.
Hamburg's new regular service links the ports of Suape, Santos, Buenos Aires, Rio Grande, Santos and Itaguai (Sepetiba) with the European continent.
The Northern European ports served are those of Antwerp, Rotterdam, Bremerhaven and Hamburg.
Besides the two ships owned by MSC, the MSC Leigh (4,870 TEU) and the MSC Krystal (5,700 TEU), Loop 1 will also be using the chartered vessels MSC Los Angeles (5,760 TEU), MSC Shenzhen (5,550 TEU), MSC Egypt (5,530 TEU) and MSC Venezia (5,450 TEU). Because of the large volume of refrigerated goods that is shipped north, the ships are equipped with 500 to 600 refrigerated container slots or more.
The service speed of the vessels makes it possible to complete the round trip in 42 days.
The year 2007 saw a further increase in the volume of container shipments between Hamburg and the eastern coast of South America to 344,000 TEU, 16 percent more than in the preceding year. Shipments between Hamburg and the west coast of South America show an equally positive picture, with 13.2 percent growth to reach 86,000 TEU. The lion's share of 268,000 TEU was attributable to container transport to and from Brazil. Brazil's industry continues to generate a rising volume of foreign trade, confirming Brazil's 9th place in the list of Hamburg's Top Ten trading partners.
