CMA CGM Georg Forster - the largest vessel owned by the world's third-biggest shipping company - was christened at the HHLA Container Terminal Burchardkai (CTB) on 9 July 2015. With a length of 398 metres and a loading capacity of approximately 18,000 standard containers (TEU), it is currently one of the world's largest container ships The ship's sponsor was Christine Kühne, whose husband is the logistics entrepreneur Klaus-Michael Kühne. Among the 500 guests at the ceremony were the Chairman of HHLA's Executive Board Klaus-Dieter Peters, his fellow Executive Board member Dr. Stefan Behn and Hamburg's Senator for Economic Affairs, Frank Horch.

At the christening ceremony, Nicolas Sartini - CMA CGM Group Senior Vice-President responsible for Asia-Europe services - said how satisfied he was with Hamburg as a shipping hub. He commented that HHLA's facilities in Hamburg operated more efficiently than any other container terminal in Europe. However, Sartini also expressed his disappointment at the further delay in the dredging of the river Elbe, which he considers to be urgently necessary.

In August 2014, HHLA put berth 5/6 into use at CTB, which is equipped with container gantry cranes capable of handling vessels the size of CMA CGM Georg Forster. A few weeks ago, the company announced that it would be buying additional container gantry cranes for CTB and the Container Terminal Tollerort (CTT). These will also be able to handle the latest generation of container ships.

In his welcome speech, Dr. Stefan Behn from HHLA's Executive Board emphasised that the shipping company has had ties with HHLA for 25 years. He added that choosing to have the largest vessel in the CMA CGM fleet christened in Hamburg was a vote of confidence in both CTB and Hamburg as a whole. Behn also highlighted the ship's outstanding environmental credentials: CMA CGM Georg Forster already meets the International Maritime Organisation's (IMO) targets for 2025 with its low CO2 emissions.

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