As from 1 of August 2003, Hamburg Süd will operate the liner services between Asia, South and West Africa and South America under its own name and discontinue use of the Kien Hung brand. The liner operations will be offered with improved service quality under the renowned brand name Hamburg Süd.

Hamburg Süd has been historically specialized in the North-South trade routes, with a special focus on South America and Australia / New Zealand. With Columbus Line, Crowley American Transport and Brazilian flag carrier Aliança, the Hamburg Süd Group offer maritime transport and intermodal transport services for more than 130 years.

In line with Hamburg Süd strategy, the new operations will also be managed through a chain of proprietary offices at all key locations.

The company, together with NYK - Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha - announced also a New Joint Service for the Far East named : "New Good Hope Express Service" (NGX). Both companies have agreed to enter into a partnership in the trade between Asia, the South America East Coast and South Africa.

Frequency along with vessel size and type to be deployed remain unchanged, which is 77 days round fixed-day weekly service with eleven 2,500 TEU class vessels.

The rotation of the new service NGX will be as follows:
Shanghai - Pusan - Japan Ports - Keelung - Hong Kong - Singapore - Durban - Santos - Buenos Aires - Rio Grande - Itajai - Paranagua - Santos - Rio de Janeiro - Singapore - Hong Kong - Shanghai. With additional calls at Shanghai and Itajai, port coverage will improve.

The company informed skipping Montevideo and Durban (N/B), where heavy port congestion has often been detrimental to schedule punctuality, will enable NGX to provide a better schedule reliability.