At the end of a one-month journey, the CAP PALMERSTON was the first ship in the expanded North America West Coast (WAMS) service operated by Hamburg Süd to reach the Port of Hamburg this week. The vessel was handled and cleared at the HHLA Container Terminal Burchardkai. The journey through the Panama Canal and on to Europe covered a distance of about 10,000 nautical miles.

The WAMS service has been linking the North American west coast and Central American west coast, including Mexico, with Cartagena in Colombia since the beginning of the year 2010. The expanded service now also includes Hamburg and some other ports in northern Europe. In 2010, Hamburg’s container traffic with North and Central America increased by almost 16 per cent compared with the previous year.

On the occasion of the inaugural arrival of the new service in Hamburg, Jörg Pollmann, Port Captain of the Port of Hamburg, presented the captain of the CAP PALMERSTON, Mario Pamute, with the Admiralty coat of arms of the Port of Hamburg. Representatives of Hamburg Süd and Port of Hamburg Marketing were also on board to welcome the new service.

“By including Hamburg in the expanded WAMS service, Hamburg Süd can now offer a fast, direct connection with comprehensive port coverage between northern Europe and the U.S. west coast. Moreover, the inclusion of the two hub ports of Tangier and Cartagena provides outstanding connections to the Caribbean Basin, the east and west coasts of South America and the eastern Mediterranean, the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent,” explains Uwe Gaede, Director Area Germany, Marketing and Sales for Hamburg Süd.

The expanded service will use ten ships with a capacity of 1,700 TEU each. Hamburg Süd will contribute eight units, and CCNI two. The complete rotation of the service takes 70 days and includes the following ports: Hamburg, Le Havre, Cartagena, Long Beach, Oakland, Seattle, Vancouver, Oakland, Long Beach, Manzanillo, Lazaro Cardenas, Puerto Quetzal, Cartagena, Tangier, Rotterdam, Tilbury and back to Hamburg.