Hamburg Sud christened its Rio Madeira in the Uruguayan port of Montevideo last week.

The vessel if the final newbuilding of a series of six identical 5,900 TEU container ships. Sponsor of the Rio Madeira was Katharina von Malais??.

Following her delivery at Daewoo Mangalia Heavy Industries (DMHI) in Romania in mid-November, the Rio Madeira was briefly deployed in the service between Asia and South America's East Coast.

The vessel ?C named after the Amazon's largest tributary, the 1,500km Rio Madeira ?C has been phased into the shipping group's Europe?CSouth America East Coast Service.

This year will see the delivery of another four Hamburg S??d container ships.

Scheduled for delivery in the first six months are two Cap vessels of 4,600 TEU apiece, to be followed in the second half of the year by two ships of the 7,100 TEU Santa class.