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Hamburg Süd/Aliança, CMA CGM and Hapag-Lloyd have announced the launch of a new direct service that will run at low speed in order to reduce bunker fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

The new service, scheduled to travel between the East Coast of South America and North Europe is due to commence on August 6th 2009.

The lines will provide a joint weekly service of 2 loops, replacing their respective SAFRAN/SAEC services and featuring 3 major changes:

* A rationalization of their capacity on this trade to better match the market evolution.

* An improved frequency with more vessels deployed as well as more competitive transit times.

* An enlarged and attractive port coverage with the introduction of two new port calls at Salvador de Bahia and Suape.

"Vessels will run at eco-speed in order to reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions," the lines said in a statement.

The rotation will be as follows:
Sling 1: Rotterdam – Tilbury – Hamburg – Antwerp – Le Havre – Santos – Buenos Aires – Montevideo – Rio Grande – Santos – Suape – Rotterdam.

Sling 1: Rotterdam – Hamburg – Antwerp – Le Havre – Sepetiba – Navegantes – Paranagua – Santos – Sepetiba – Rio de Janeiro – Salvador – Tangier – Rotterdam.

Sling 1 will deploy 6 vessels of 5.900 TEU capacity (operated by Hamburg Süd) and Sling 2 will deploy 6 vessels of 2.800 TEU (4 operated by CMA CGM and its partner, 2 by Hapag-Lloyd).

The first sailings will be performed by HAMBURG SUD RIO NEGRO, calling Rotterdam on August 6th 2009 for Sling 1 and CMA CGM VIOLET calling Rotterdam on August 9th for Sling 2.