Rickmers christens four containerships with a combined capacity of 52,400TEU during a ceremony at the HHI Ulsan shipyard.

In a quadruple naming ceremony at HHI's Ulsan shipyard on 2 July, Rickmers Group christened four ultra-large containerships (ULCS) of 13,100TEU each.

Each of the four containerships, Pearl Rickmers, Ruby Rickmers, Aqua Rickmers and Coconee Rickmers, has a service speed of 24.3 knots. They have been chartered long-term to Maersk Line and will join Maersk's E class as Maersk Edinburgh, Maersk Emden, Maersk Eindhoven and Maersk Essen.

The containerships will be delivered one by one during July and August 2010, and phase in to Maersk's new joint service with CMA CGM linking Asia and North Europe.

As Maersk's AE8 service, it will deploy ten containerships of this size, each partner contributing five.

The port rotation will be: Ningbo - Shanghai - Yantian - Tanjung Pelepas - Port Kelang - Le Havre - Hamburg - Rotterdam - Zeebrugge - Port Kelang - Singapore - Ningbo.

A further four sister ships are due for delivery to the Rickmers Group in 2011, also for charter to Maersk Line. All have been fixed for ten-year periods with further options.