Contship ContainerLines to Build Three New Ships for Core Australian T

For the first time in its 30 year history, Contship Containerlines wil
l break with its long and effective chartering strategy to operate own
ed tonnage and is set to order three purpose-built container ships, sp
ecifically for the Europe-Australian trade.
To be constructed by Daewoo of Korea, the three ships are scheduled fo
r delivery in 2002 and will have a container-carrying capacity of 4100
teu, including 1,300 reefer plugs. They will have a service speed of
25.2 knots.
The new ships will replace tonnage deployed in Contship Containerlines
' Eagle service between Europe, Australia and New Zealand which is cur
rently operated in partnership with the P&O Nedlloyd Eastbound and Med
iterranean strings. These existing three service strings deploy a tota
l of 17 ships and form the basis of a cooperation between Contship Con
tainerlines and P&O Nedlloyd which commenced in 1994.
Jointly Contship Containerlines and P&O Nedlloyd will retonnage a new
Eastbound product with the introduction of ten new ships including Con
tship Containerlines' three newbuildings.