Lidl confirmed the launch of its own container ships at the beginning of April.
“The goal is to be able to manage the increased volume of different production facilities more flexibly in the long term,” quotes German transportation news site DVZ a statement by Wolf Tiedemann, CEO of Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG.
Now, Alphaliner has found more details about the ships taking part in the plan: the fleet will include the two sister ships Wiking and Jadrana, built in 2016, with a capacity of 4,957 TEU. Also, the Merkur Ocean, which was built in 2013, with a capacity of 3,868 TEU will also ship goods for the supermarket chain.
The fourth vessel Alphaliner was reporting about is Talassa. The ship was built in 2005 and has the largest transport space of the four ships with a slot capacity of 5,527 TEU.
The liner shipping reference site added that Lidl has signed 48-month-long contracts with the owners of the vessels. The current charter contracts of the four vessels will expire by early summer; therefore, the ships are predicted to serve Lidl from this point in time.
Also, the objection period at the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) against the use of the Tailwind Shipping Lines trademark comes to an end on June 14th, therefore the starting date predicted by Alphaliner is very likely.