16,000 TEU ship enters CMA CGM’s Asia: Europe Trade

The CMA CGM Group has announced that the CMA CGM Alexander Von Humboldt, second of the worlds largest and state of the art containership’s series, as it began its first voyage recently in Pusan, South Korea.

Built by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) in South Korea, this giant of the seas, owned by CMA CGM, displays exceptional dimensions: 396 m long, 54 m wide, with a draft of 16 m and sails under the UK flag. In line with the sustainable development policy of the Group, the CMA CGM Alexander Von Humboldt is equipped with all the latest environmental technologies.

The CMA CGM Alexander Von Humboldt is the second of a series of three 16,000 TEU vessels, all to be named after great explorers. The delivery of the third vessel of the series, the CMA CGM Jules Verne, which will sail under the French flag, is expected at the beginning of May 2013.

The CMA CGM Alexander Von Humboldt will be christened, Tuesday, 30 May 2013 in Hamburg, in presence of her godmother, Second Mayor of Hamburg Dr. Dorothee Stapelfeldt, Mayor of Hamburg Olaf Scholz, and CMA CGM Group’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jacques R. Saadé.

Operated on the emblematic line of the group, the French Asia Line (FAL 1), the CMA CGM Alexander Von Humboldt will call at, Ningbo (24 April), Shanghai (26 April), Xiamen (29 April), Hong Kong (30 April), Chiwan (1 May), Yantian (2 May), Port Kelang (6 May), Suez (19 May), Tanger (23 May), Southampton (27 May), Hamburg (29 May), Bremerhaven (31 May), Rotterdam (2 June), Zeebrugge (3 June), Le Havre (5 June), Malta (11 June), Suez (14 June), Khor Al Fakkan (22 June), Jebel Ali (24 June), Port Kelang (3 July) and Ningbo (10 July). The FAL1 operates the largest vessels of the CMA CGM fleet and offers its customers a fixed-day, weekly connection between Central and South China, the main exporting zones of the country, and Northern Europe.

Alexander von Humboldt is a German naturalist, geographer, and explorer, born on 14 September 1769 in Berlin and died on 6 May 1859 in the same city. Humboldt is considered as the father of modern geography.

He cleared and applied two principles that make geography a distinct science of physical and biological sciences. He is the younger brother of Wilhelm von Humboldt, Minister of Prussia and German philosopher, who, as a visionary for research and education, founded the Humboldt University of Berlin in 1810.