Sydney Express
 The Sydney Express 1987 in Melbourne
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The Sydney Express operated by the Hapag-Lloyd shipping company was one of the largest container ships in the world in 1970 . The ship could carry a total of 1,507 TEU , 100 of which were refrigerated containers.
history
Blohm + Voss built the Sydney Express on behalf of HAPAG based on the experience gained in the design and construction of Moreton Bay , a ship of the Encounter Bay class . The Sydney Express had spaces for 1,507 TEU, 100 of which were for reefer containers ( porthole system). Two sister ships of the Sydney Express were built for partner shipping companies according to Blohm + Voss plans at other shipyards. They were the Lloydiana , which was built for the Italian shipping company Lloyd Triestino at the Italcantieri shipyard, and the Abel Tasman , which was ordered by the Vereenigde Nederlandsche Scheepvaart Maatschappij shipping company at the Van der Giessen-De Noord shipyard and delivered to Koninklijke Nedlloyd in 1971 .
In the same year, Norddeutsche Lloyd ordered a very similarly designed ship with the Melbourne Express from Bremer Vulkan , which had almost 20 more spaces.
In October 1969, the following seven shipping companies merged to set up a joint container service under the name Australia Europe Container Service (AECS). The AECS partners were:
- Associated Container Transportation (ACT), London
- Australian National Line (ALN), Melbourne
- Compagnie Messageries Maritimes , Paris.
- Hapag-Lloyd AG, Hamburg / Bremen
- Koninklijke Nedlloyd NV, Rotterdam
- Lloyd Triestino , Trieste
- Overseas Containers Limited (OCL), London
With the largest organization that had ever existed in the shipping industry, the efficient handling of the container traffic, which was currently developing internationally, was ensured. A total of 14 container ships of the second generation with ship-mounted refrigeration systems to supply the porthole refrigerated containers enabled an optimal 10-day departure density. They replaced the previous general cargo carriers, which were equipped with additional cold rooms due to the high proportion of refrigerated cargo. Hapag-Lloyd brought the Sydney Express and Melbourne Express into this service. The first AECS departure was on the Melbourne Express from Tilbury (1,100 containers) and on September 12, 1970 from Hamburg (320 containers). Seven years later (1977) the connection of New Zealand to the full container service followed, so that this was expanded to the Australia New Zealand Europe Container Service (ANZECS).
The shipping company Hapag-Lloyd later used the ship on other routes and renamed it Canada Express . She later sold the ship to the Swiss Mediterranean Shipping Company , which operated it as MSC Brianna until it was demolished in 1997 .
technology
The most important feature was the ship-mounted refrigeration system and brine system for supplying the porthole refrigerated containers. The transnational agreement on the porthole system of the 20-foot refrigerated containers with uniform openings for the cold air inlets and outlets on the front side enabled the refrigerated containers to be transported independently on all ships of the respective shipping companies. Another outstanding technical feature were the Siemens-Elektrofin stabilizers for damping the rolling movements.
Trivia
When the elegant ship was welcomed after its completion, successful test drive and delivery to the shipping company at the Hamburg Überseebrücke, no less than 25,000 people crowded on board. According to Hapag-Lloyd and the water police, the largest crowd that has ever been counted on board a ship in the port of Hamburg.
literature
- Prager, Hans Georg: Blohm + Voss . Ships and machines for the world. Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft, Herford 1977, ISBN 3-7822-0127-2 .
- Linde, H .: Transport of refrigerated cargo in containers on board container ships . In: Yearbook of the Shipbuilding Society . Vol. 65. Springer Verlag, Berlin 1971, p. 197-223 .
- Witthöft, HJ: Container . Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft, Herford 1977.
- Hochhaus, K.-H .: Developments in the sea transport of refrigerated goods in refrigerated containers . Yearbook of the Shipbuilding Society. Springer Verlag, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-540-27423-5 .
