International shipping line christens its latest ship Hual Durban

Aug 28, 2004
Author: SAPO

August 28 2004

Durban means many things to different people, but recently a major international shipping line Hual chose to christen one of its most modern high technology ships after the city.

On Saturday evening the Hual Durban on its maiden voyage from Europe to Australia and the Far East docked at the Durban Car Terminal, where in keeping with tradition its captain was presented with a special plaque from the car terminal and the shipping line.


The plaque depicting the city of Durban, the port and the car terminal was presented to Captain G. I. Gwang by Kresen Naicker, Commercial Manager of the car terminal. The plaque will be displayed on the ships bridge.

According to Hual port captain, Capt. Leif Hansen, Durban is an important port for Hual as a vehicle import and export port, and hence the decision to name the ship after the city. This year the shipping line expects to make 60 to 70 calls at the Port of Durban.

“From a car terminal perspective, it is a honour to continue our excellent long standing customer relationship with Hual. For this international car carrier to name one of their latest modern era vessels after our great city is a feather in our cap. It not only shows extreme confidence in our logistics systems and operational processes, but displays good faith in the South African economy,” said Naicker.

Pressed for time the ship, with a 24-man crew from Korea and the Philippines, gave up the traditional pomp and ceremony that goes with visiting a namesake port on a maiden voyage. Within six hours its 510 vehicles unloaded and loaded the Hual Durban sailed at 4am on Sunday morning for Fremantle, Australia and then the Far East.

Depending on where its load of motor vehicles is headed she may dock again in Durban in three months time.

With an estimated value of million the Hual Durban is 199.90 metres long and 32.26 metres wide, has a deadweight capacity of 18,369 tons and a carrying capacity of about 6,200 standard-size vehicles.

Built in Japan at the Toyohashi Shipyard and delivered in June this year the ship is part of a 14-ship fleet expansion programme for Hual, which started in 2003 and will run to 2007. She is the fifth of seven new long-term charters for the line.

The long-term charters will be followed by another seven ships built at Daewoo Shipbuilding in Korea for the line’s own account. The first two of these owned ships will be delivered in September and December this year.