HAMBURG-BASED Rickmers-Linie has strengthened its Asian-routing with the launching of the new Pearl String Service.

Marking the first call of the Pearl String Service in Malaysia, the mv Rickmers Hamburg called at Pasir Gudang before making its way to Westport last week.

“The arrival of the mv Rickmers Hamburg marked the first time Rickmers-Linie has sailed into Malaysia in two years, making it a maiden voyage under the new service,” said Ben Line Agencies (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd senior manager David Ong.

Ong said that the new Round-the-World Pearl String Service, which replaces the long-established Round-the-World service, uses the new Superflex Heavy Multi-Purpose Container (MPC) ships and sails every 14 days eastbound around the world, linking Europe, Asia and North America.

The service includes regular calls at the ports of Hamburg, Antwerp, Genoa, Jakarta, Singapore, Map Ta Phut, Haiphong, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Xingang, Dalian, Kobe, Yokohama, Houston and New Orleans.

In addition to the regular ports, the Pearl String Service also calls at specialist project ports, such as Masan in South Korea, Hitachi in Japan, Newport News in Virginia, and Camden in New Jersey.

“However, the Rickmers-Linie is not a direct caller to Malaysia. Instead, Rickmers call on Singapore every 14 days through the mv Rickmers Singapore, which was christened in August this year,” said Ong, adding that Rickmers-Linie would only call on Malaysia if the vessel was carrying cargo to the weight of a minimum of 2,000 tonnes.

"If the cargo is of a lesser tonnage, the vessel would only call at Singapore.

“At this point, we are trying to get the Rickmers-Linie ships to call more regularly in Malaysia, and not visit the Malaysian ports as just part of inducement,” he said.

Due to the geographical location, the mv Rickmers Hamburg chose Westport as its maiden port of call, unloading a mixture of cargo including rail tracks for the double-tracking project.

“In terms of location, Westport is closer to Singapore, which is the mv Rickmers Hamburg’s next destination.

“As we do not deal so much with conventional cargo, Westport was able to offer the vessel a better berthing time, which gives Ben Line Agencies and the mv Rickmers Hamburg a flexible time schedule to berth at the wharf,” said Westport’s head of department (conventional services) Chai Lih Yunn.

All nine of the MPC Rickmers-Linie vessels, of which the mv Rickmers Hamburg is the seventh to be dispatched in the world, weighs 30,000 tonnes deadweight and have been built in China.

Designed for breakbulk, project cargo and heavy lifts, each of the MPC vessel is equipped with four large cranes, of which the two heaviest can be combined for a lifting capacity of up to 640 tonnes.

The new ships are fully fitted for container carriage with a maximum capacity of 1,888 TEUs, which enables Rickmers-Line to accept shipper or carrier-owned containers and also to offer slots to container carriers.