The 'Rio Madeira' was christened in Montevideo, Uruguay, on January 15. The vessel is the final newbuilding of a series of six identical 9,500TEU Hamburg Süd container vessels.
The ship was named after the Amazon's largest tributary, the 1,500-kilometre-long Rio Madeira. Sponsor of the 'Rio Madeira' was Katharina von Malaisé.
'Rio Madeira' measures 286.45 metres by 40 metres and has a draught of 13.5 metres.
The 80,115DWT vessel has a container capacity of 5,900TEU along with 1,365 reefer plugs.
Following her delivery at Daewoo Mangalia Heavy Industries (DMHI) in Romania in mid-November 2009, the 'Rio Madeira' was briefly deployed in the service between Asia and South America East Coast.
Following the christening in Montevideo, the vessel is to be phased into Hamburg Süd's Europe – South America East Coast Service.
Another four Hamburg Süd container ships will be delivered in 2010. Scheduled for delivery in the first six months of the year are two 4,600TEU Cap-class vessels, to be followed in the second half of the year by two ships of the Santa-class. Each boasting a slot capacity of 7,100TEU, the latter will be the largest vessels in the history of the shipping group.
