Photo-caption: Group photo in the ceremony. Lawrence Shum (8th from left, second row), Managing Director of YANTIAN, Liu Jianfeng (9thfrom left, second row), Vice President of ZTE, Viola Lam (7th from left, second row), Branch Manager and Sales Director of Hapag-Lloyd Shenzhen Branch, and Richard Hu (10th from left, second row), Assistant General Manager of CTS head office.

Berlin Express, like its sister vessel Manila Express, is a 24,000-teu LNG dual-fuel container vessel, that has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions by 15%-25% during voyages and minimise sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides, smoke, and waste oil water emissions. Berlin Express, which is on its maiden voyage, was launched in June this year.

The vessel is part of a series of twelve dual-fuel LNG 23,500+ teu-vessels Hapag-Lloyd ordered in late 2020 and mid-2021. The total investment value of the twelve vessels stands at around $2 billion. The 400-metre-long and 61-metre-wide newbuilds are among the largest ships in the world.

Yantian, as ZTE’s primary export hub, has frequent deliveries to Europe, which serves as a crucial high-end market for ZTE’s green shipping initiative.

The port has implemented a range of eco-conscious measures to reduce carbon emissions, including the establishment of rail-sea intermodal routes, widespread shore power infrastructure, adoption of liquefied natural gas (LNG) refuelling, and the conversion of gantry cranes from diesel to electric power. It now ranks second in the country in port container throughput according to the China Ports Association.