11-Mar-2005

[11 March 2005 – Hong Kong] – On 7 March 2005, a grand inaugural and christening ceremony of M.V. “COSCO Xiamen” was held at Xiamen International Container Terminals (XICT), which marked the official commencement of COSCO’s CEU2 weekly service (Xiamen – Northwest Europe). The ceremony was well attended by over 300 guests including Mr. Li Chuan, Vice Governor of Fujian Province, Mr. Huang Jie Cheng, Member of the Standing Committee and Secretary-General of the Chinese People’s Conference Xiamen Municipal Committee, Mr. Chen Hong Sheng, Vice President of COSCO Group, Mr. Xu Li Rong, General Manager of COSCON and representatives from the Provincial and Municipal Governments, and the port and shipping industries.

M.V. “COSCO Xiamen” is 279 metres long, 40 metres wide and 67,290 DWT, with a designed draught of 14 metres and the handling capacity of 5,816 TEU. With sophisticated systems and rapid sailing speed, it takes only 23 days to ship cargoes from XICT to Antwerp.

Mr. Edward Tang, General Manager of XICT commented in delight, “COSCO’s decision to christen this inaugural vessel with Xiamen shows its confidence in the promising economy and potential market in Xiamen. The CEU2 service is the third line-haul service the COSCO Group has launched at XICT, following the services to US west coast and Australia. This reflects both parties’ commitment to a long-term partnership.”

He added, “The monthly average quay crane rate at XICT has reached 30 moves per hour since the second half of last year. Moreover, on 12 February 2005 we made a new record of vessel operation rate of 167 moves per hour, the best in Xiamen Port. With the operation of new quay deck and new quay cranes, we are confident and capable of providing better service to all our customers.”