The Hannover Express class , later Kiel Express class is a series of eight Panamax - Container motor ships of the Hamburg shipping company Hapag-Lloyd . The fourth-generation container ships built between 1991 and 1994 were among the largest of their kind when they were built.
The ship type of the Hannover Express series was built by the South Korean shipyard Samsung Shipbuilding & Heavy Industries and was a consistent further development of the Bonn Express class that Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft in Kiel and Hapag-Lloyd within the Ship of the Future project developed. They therefore have wheelhouses with optimized all-round visibility and free-fall lifeboats arranged at the stern . In terms of shipbuilding, the hulls developed in cooperation with Germanischer Lloyd came up with a novelty. For the first time, a Panamax design was realized without longitudinal shells , as was previously the case on container ships of this size to ensure longitudinal strength and as a substructure for the hatch cover . The advantages of the new design lie in the larger cargo space and the reduced construction costs. The total capacity is a little over 4400 TEU, there are 452 connections for refrigerated containers .
The ship's superstructures are arranged about four fifths of the length aft. The main engines used act directly on a fixed propeller and were among the most powerful diesel engines on the market at the time.
The lead ship, the Hannover Express , was laid down on June 4, 1990, launched on October 27 of the same year and put into service in February 1991. The last ship in the series, the Hamburg Express , was delivered in 1994. All ships of the class were used in liner service between Europe and East Asia.
The ships
Hanover Express Class
Ship name
Shipyard / construction number
Launching / delivery
Whereabouts
Hanover Express
Samsung / 1075
October 27, 1990 / February 1991
June 2007 → Kiel Express , arrived in Xinhui for demolition in March 2015
Leverkusen Express
Samsung / 1076
February 9, 1991 / May 1991
August 2012 → Portland Express , underway
Dresden Express
Samsung / 1077
May 25, 1991 / September 1991
March 2015 → HH Emilia in motion
Hoechst Express
Samsung / 1078
September 14, 1991 / December 1991
March 2015 → Kalliopi RC under way
Ludwigshafen Express
Samsung / 1079
December 21, 1991 / March 1992
March 2012 → Atlanta Express , March 2015 → Dimitrios C , underway
Food Express
Samsung / 1090
April 17, 1993 / July 1993
March 2013 → Boston Express , → HH Nikol C , stranded on January 1, 2016 for demolition in Alang.
Stuttgart Express
Samsung / 1096
September 18, 1993 / December 1993
→ MSC Roberta
Hamburg Express
Samsung / 1097
September 15, 1994 / December 1994
August 2001 → Paris Express , arrived in Xinhui for demolition in February 2015
literature
John Lingwood: Hannover Express: more capacity for Hapag-Lloyd . In: Significant Ships of 1991 . The Royal Institution of Naval Architects, London 1992, ISBN 0-903055-13-9 , pp.44/45 .
Hans Jürgen Witthöft: Container. The mega carriers are coming . Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft, Hamburg 2004, ISBN 3-7822-0882-X .
