Two additional names to the list of container ships that have
called here are MSC Martina, in port last week, and
Maersk Bratan, due next weekend.
The former is a 37,398gt vessel that has just been added to
its owner's Capricorn hub service through Singapore.
It was the first of four 3424teu, 22.5-knot sisters ordered
by Leonhardt & Blumberg of Hamburg for operation by
one-ship companies under the German flag. They were built at
Koje by the Samsung Heavy Industries Company Ltd.
In keeping with these owners' policy of using the prefix
Hansa in naming vessels, the ship was launched as Hansa
America on June 4, 1993. However, it was completed on
August 19, 1993, as Maersk Hong Kong.
In 1997, the ship was given its current name when chartered
by Mediterranean Shipping, which also chartered its three
sister ships at the same time.
All four were bought by MSC four-to-five years later for
service under the flag of Panama.
Sister ships carry the names MSCs Monica, Rossella and
Sophie.
In 1998, the name Maersk Hong Kong passed to a smaller
21,199gt, 1648teus, vessel completed at Gdynia in September
1997, as Nadir. This vessel made 19 local calls from
July 15, 1999, to May 11, 2007.
Sister ships Maersk Wellington and Orion
between them made 25 calls from August 1999, to July 2007.
With regards to Leonhardt & Blumberg, the only container
ship I recall coming here, and in their colours, was the
ill-fated Bremen-registered Hansa Clipper. The
18,037gt, 1786teu vessel made two visits in 1994, the first
on January 8, and the second on April 2.
Like other units of the fleet, it had been built for the
express purpose of chartering out to other operators.
Built in 1990 by the Bremen-Vulkan yard at Vegesack, it
commenced its brief career as Ville de Provence until
renamed CGM Provence. It then carried the name
Hansa Clipper from 1993-94, then had a brief spell as
CMBT Africa before reverting to Hansa Clipper
from 1995-96.
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