The event also marked the first berthing of a containership at the new ICAVE terminal.
Hamburg Süd christened the Polar Mexico containership in the Port of Veracruz over the weekend.
“Mexico is one of the most important economies in Latin America and an important market for Hamburg Süd,” said CEO Arnt Vespermann. “We are proud that we are christening this vessel while the city and the port of Veracruz are celebrating their 500th anniversary.”
The Mexican economy is strong in the fruit sector as well as in other industries with high import and export volumes, such as automobile manufacturing, chemicals and brewing, Vespermann said. “As a global carrier we are serving the Mexican market with a set of very competitive connections to almost all other continents.”
According to an announcement from Hamburg Süd, it has been active in Mexico for about 50 years and is one of the three largest liner shipping companies in the Mexican market today. One of the most important Hamburg Süd liner services for the region is the North Europe – Mexico/Caribbean Service (EMCS), which connects Altamira, Veracruz and Progreso as well as farther Caribbean ports with Ireland, Great Britain, Antwerp and Bremerhaven. The Polar Mexico is deployed in this service. Other Hamburg Süd services are calling the Mexican ports of Manzanillo and Lázaro Cárdenas.
The ship belongs to a group of four structurally identical vessels in the Polar class that have been built for Hamburg Süd by the Chinese shipyard Jiangsu New Yangzi Shipbuilding. With a total length of 230 meters and a width of 37.30 meters, the ship offers a container storage capacity of 3,800 TEUs. Due to its size, design and large number of reefer connections (1,000 plugs), the Polar Mexico is particularly tailored to transport refrigerated cargo.
The christening of the Polar Mexico also marked the first berthing of a container vessel at the new ICAVE terminal, a major maritime infrastructure development in the Port of Veracruz that is scheduled to start operations soon.
