Hamburg Süd and Aliança announced the new configuration of their long-standing East Coast Inter-American containership services, effective with the New York sailing (25N/26S) of the "Cap San Rafael" on March 4, 2005.

Six vessels will operate on a fixed-day weekly schedule to Venezuela, Brazil and Argentina. The port rotation is New York, Philadelphia, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Miami, Puerto Cabello, Suape, Santos, Buenos Aires, Rio Grande, Santos, Sepetiba, Suape, Pecem and New York. Additional ports are served through Aliança's extensive cabotage services.

Hamburg Süd Senior Vice President Frank Larkin commented that the new service would feature the following to shippers: "Our six modern CAP SAN-class vessels (3,800-TEU, 800 reefer plugs, 22.5-knots), are purpose-built for the trade.

Julian Thomas, Sao Paulo-based Managing Director of Aliança, added: "Our direct service to Buenos Aires and the addition of a Venezuelan call at Puerto Cabello will better serve expanding trade volumes with those two nations.