The board of CP Ships Limited has appointed Adolf Adrion new CEO effective 1st January 2006 following the completion of the acquisition of CP Ships by Hapag-Lloyd at the end of 2005. Mr Adrion, also executive board member of Hapag-Lloyd AG, is retaining his previous responsibilities and is taking over from former CP Ships CEO Ray Miles, who stepped down from his post on 31st December 2005.

The chairman of the CP Ships board of directors (comparable to a supervisory board in Germany) and chairman of the Hapag-Lloyd executive board, Michael Behrendt, emphasized that these appointments are crucial steps in the process of the integration of the two companies.

In line with its integration of CP Ships, Hapag-Lloyd is enlarging its globally standardised organisation from three to five regions. The management will also be expanded accordingly with the inclusion of CP Ships executives Juan Manuel Gonzalez, Glenn Hards and Alan Boylan.

Hapag-Lloyd, based in Hamburg, currently manages its business from three Region headquarters Hamburg (for Europe), Singapore (for Asia and Australasia) and New York (for America). After acquiring CP Ships at the end of last year, Hapag-Lloyd is now setting up two new regions: "South Europe", based in Genoa, and "Latin America", based in Tampa, Florida.

Region Latin America, beginning in Mexico and extending southwards as far as Argentina and Chile, will be headed by Juan Manuel Gonzalez, Executive Vice President Commercial at CP Ships and responsible for Latin America, Asia and Australasia.

"With the two new regions, we are responding to the forecast increase in cargo volume," commented Adolf Adrion, executive board member of Hapag-Lloyd AG.

With the acquisition of CP Ships by Hapag-Lloyd, plans are set for a series of service rationalizations, being the first one the combining of services between the West Mediterranean, the US East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico as from next February 2006.

"Thanks to the integration of the two independent services into one which will use the established name "Mediterranean Gulf Express", we can significantly improve the product for our customers and also achieve the benefits of rationalization," commented Tony Firmin, Managing Director of Hapag-Lloyd Container Line.

With its acquisition of CP Ships, Hapag-Lloyd has joined the Top 5 in global container shipping. Hapag-Lloyd and CP Ships have a combined fleet of about 140 vessels with a total capacity of 410,000 containers (TEU). Hapag-Lloyd is a company of TUI AG, based in Hanover/Berlin.