Hapag-Lloyd is investing into its container fleet and has ordered 11,100 state-of-the-art reefer containers. The new containers will be integrated to the company’s existing fleet of 91,000 reefer containers, with delivery gradually starting in August and to be finally completed by December 2018. The increasing demand from clients to transport temperature sensitive goods was the main reason to increase the reefer fleet, explained Clemens Holz, Director Reefer Products.
Today, Hapag-Lloyd has a significant footprint in the refrigerated container market and the company has continuously invested in new reefer equipment throughout the past years and also renewed a significant share of its fleet. Since 2015, including the most recent order, the liner shipping company has purchased a total of 30,550 new reefers to ensure that it can offer sufficient seasonal availability to its customers, particularly during peak times such as harvesting seasons of fruits or vegetables. In addition to food products, Hapag-Lloyd also transports other sensitive products in reefer containers, such as high-value pharmaceuticals.
The production of the new reefers has begun with the first series of 40′ containers. Two thousand of the new containers are equipped with Controlled Atmosphere – a technology used to slow down the ripening process and to extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables. Thanks to optimised power control, they will also consume significantly less energy, without any change in performance and temperature precision.
With a fleet of 226 modern container ships and a total transport capacity of 1.6 million TEU, Hapag-Lloyd is one of the world’s leading liner shipping companies. The Company has around 12,000 employees and 389 offices in 127 countries. Hapag-Lloyd has a container capacity of 2.5 million TEU. A total of 120 liner services worldwide ensure connections between more than 600 ports on all the continents. Hapag-Lloyd is operating in the Transatlantic, Middle East, Latin America and Intra-America trades.
