Rickmers Chennai, a multipurpose heavylift vessel of Rickmers-Linie, the Hamburg-based specialist in the global transportation of breakbulk, heavylift and project cargo, departed Hamburg on 23 November for the 200th voyage of a Rickmers vessel to the Middle East and India.
Rickmers-Linie introduced its regular and direct multipurpose service from Europe to the Middle East in 1991 and added India to its schedule two years later. Today, the main loading ports are Antwerp, Hamburg and Genoa with Dammam, Ras Laffan, Abu Dhabi and Dubai, as well as Mumbai and Chennai as main discharge ports. Further ports are called on inducement.
Sailings are offered every three weeks and performed by four multipurpose vessels with a capacity of approximately 23,000 dwt each and a lifting capacity of up to 250 tonnes. The service speed of these vessels is 16 knots.
This service is further complemented by regular sailings of vessels employed in the Round-the-World Pearl String Service, calling at Dubai on a monthly basis and able to call at further ports in the region in case of demand.
Since 2006, Rickmers-Linie has also been offering westbound voyages from India via the Middle East to Europe, a service experiencing steadily increasing freight volumes.
In October this year, Rickmers announced a fleet renewal programme comprising ten newbuildings to be built in China. Some of these are expected to enter the Europe to Middle East/India trade upon completion in 2009/2011.