Bigger ships for ZIM

With the opening of the enlarged locks in the Panama Canal earlier this year, ZIM has been bringing larger ships in. Theses ship, too large for the old canal, can now go transpacific and continue on through Panama to the North American east coast.

Many of these ships do not belong to ZIM, but are chartered in. Such is the case with today's arrival, Asklipios, a 113, 412 grt, 118,815 dwt vessel with a capacity of 9954 TEU (including 1400 reefers). Although not breaking the through the "magic" (but arbitrary) 10,000 TEU barrier, it is still a big ship for Halifax.

 Asklipios towers over bow tug Atlantic Fir with the high horsepower Spitfire III braking at the stern.

Built in 2011 by Samsung Shipbuilding and Heavy Industry Co in Koje, South Korea, the ship started life as Hanjin Spain under the Panamanian flag. With the collapse of Hanjin as a victim of the shipping recession, and declared bankrupt in February 2017, its ships were put up for sale. Capital Ship Management, owned by Evangelos Marinakis, snapped up five sister ships from the fleet. He acquired the former Hanjins United Kingdom, Netherlands, Korea, China and Spain for a reported $31mn [US] each, and arranged for charters to other lines, allowing them to replace smaller and less efficient (former Panamax) ships.

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