Press Release 

Tailwind Shipping Lines christens “Panda 004” container ship

• Start-up shipping company christens newcomer to fleet
• 1,400 TEU feeder expands the fleet of the Dolphin Express service 
• Naming patron is a company employee
 

Moerdijk/Hamburg, 2 September 2024

Tailwind Shipping Lines, a subsidiary of Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG, christened the “Panda 004”, a 1,400 TEU container ship, this weekend in Moerdijk, the Netherlands. In the presence of around 50 guests and employees, naming patron Sabine Hoffmockel, an employee in the Contracts & Administration department, performed the shipping company’s first ceremonial ship christening at the port’s container terminal on Saturday. In keeping with tradition, she wished the ship and its crew “good sailing at all times and always a hand’s breadth of water under the keel”. Then, as planned, a champagne bottle was smashed against the stern of the “Panda 004”.

The “Panda 004” will initially operate as one of two ships in Tailwind’s Dolphin Express (DEX) service, which connects Barcelona and Moerdijk every week. Since its sister vessel, the “Panda 003”, is structurally identical, a homogenous fleet will be operating in the service. Barcelona is also a port of call for the shipping company’s Panda Express (PAX) service, which ensures that cargo between the Far East and Northern Europe will be seamlessly transshipped there.

Following the homogenisation of the fleet, just a bit over two years after its founding, the start-up shipping company now has a total ship capacity of around 40,000 TEU spread out over what are currently nine vessels. “As a premium carrier – including for third-party customers who want to ship time-critical goods – we offer a service tailored to their needs with the help of the ‘Panda 004’ on the DEX,” says Christian Stangl, Managing Director of Tailwind Shipping Lines. “For both Lidl, our main customer, and other customers, Moerdijk is ideally located to deliver goods to north-west Europe and, as a feeder service, it offers an attractive alternative, such as to transporting goods across Europe via lorry.”

Like the “Panda 003”, the “Panda 004” was built in China for the Elbdeich shipping company by Penglai Zhongbai Jinglu Shipbuilding. Tailwind Shipping Lines has chartered it on a long-term basis. With a length of 169.90 metres and a breadth of 26.90 metres, the ship has space for both short-sea and oversized intermodal containers. In addition, up to 378 refrigerated containers (“reefers”) can be stowed on board.


Technical data:
Length: 169.9 metres 
Breadth: 26.9 metres
Draught: 9.6 metres 
Capacity: 1,400 TEU
Deadweight: 20,150 tonnes
 

Press contact:
Corporate Communications International Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG
Email: tailwind-shipping-lines@schellenberg-kirchberg-pr.de /
corporate.communications.international@lidl.com

Press Release

Tailwind Shipping Lines welcomes new Vice President Liner Shipping Management:
Nico Peters brings many years of experience in the industry

Hamburg, 25 July 2024

Tailwind Shipping Lines is welcoming a new Vice President Liner Shipping Management. On 1 August, Nico Peters will take over this role at the Hamburg-based container liner shipping company, the second-largest in Germany. The 33-year-old is a well-known and distinguished expert in the shipping industry, who has already held various management positions at Hamburg Süd and Höegh Autoliners.

As Vice President Liner Shipping Management, Peters will particularly focus on enhancing the shipping company’s already strong customer orientation. “We are delighted that Nico Peters will be adding his extensive international experience to our team,” says Christian Stangl, Managing Director of Tailwind Shipping Lines. “He brings with him exactly the spirit that we live by here at Tailwind.”

Press contact:
Corporate Communications International Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG
Email: tailwind-shipping-lines@schellenberg-kirchberg-pr.de /
corporate.communications.international@lidl.com

Press Release 

Tailwind Shipping Lines celebrates two years of successfully operating on the market

The fleet of the Hamburg-based start-up shipping company is growing

Hamburg, 17 July 2024

Two years ago, on 16 July 2022, the “Wiking” cast off for the first time for Tailwind Shipping Lines in Taicang, China – and, since then, the Hamburg-based shipping company’s fleet has grown to nine vessels.

This summer, the “Panda 006” (formerly the “Kea”) joined the fleet, with its maximum capacity of 6,800 TEU making it the largest ship in the fleet. On its second anniversary, it is clear that – thanks to its particularly reliable sailing schedule and short transfer times – Tailwind Shipping Lines has become an important building block in securing supply chains, both for the fresh food discounter Lidl and for its growing number of third-party customers.

In addition to the Panda Express (PAX) service, which connects China (Qingdao, Ningbo and Dachan Bay) with the Mediterranean (Barcelona in Spain and Koper in Slovenia), the start-up shipping company now operates two other services. The Tiger Express (TEX) service operates between Chattogram in Bangladesh and Colombo in Sri Lanka as a feeder for the PAX, which loads cargo from Bangladesh in Colombo. And the Dolphin Express (DEX) service operates between Barcelona in Spain and Moerdijk in the Netherlands. With a current total of nine vessels – whose capacities range from around 920 TEU to 6,800 TEU – the Tailwind fleet now has a total shipping capacity of over 35,000 TEU.

On their routes, the shipping company’s vessels only call at a few smaller ports close to the major trading hubs. This enables it to avoid long waiting times for berths, which can happen in the large ports. By pursuing this strategy, Tailwind has been able to offer unrivalled reliability and punctuality, as has been confirmed by independent industry observers. For example, the Global Liner Performance Report of by Sea-Intelligence has repeatedly documented the particularly high reliability of Tailwind Shipping Lines over the past two years.

“We have established ourselves on the market as a premium service provider that transports goods to and from Asia,” says Christian Stangl, Managing Director of Tailwind Shipping Lines. “In doing so, we are fast, on time and reliable. This is an essential service for us at Lidl, in particular, given our fixed promotion schedule and special offers that change on a weekly basis. At the same time, we are seeing growing interest in our transport services among external customers. By structuring our services according to our customers’ needs, we ensure that goods arrive on time in Europe to our partners and in stores.”

This also holds true in these difficult geopolitical times. As long as the Houthi rebels continue to attack ships on the traditional route through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, Tailwind will reroute its fleet around the Cape of Good Hope. Even with these longer voyages, the Hamburg-based shipping company offers the fastest and most reliable liner service between China and the Mediterranean.
 

About the Panda Express Service (PAX)
Route: Qingdao—Ningbo—Dachan Bay—Colombo—Barcelona—Koper—Qingdao
Transfer time Dachan Bay—Barcelona: 33 days (currently due to re-routing around the Cape of Good Hope; transfer time through the Suez Canal: <20 days)
 

About the Tiger Express Service (TEX)
Route: Chattogram—Colombo
Transfer time: 4 days 
 

About the Dolphin Express Service (DEX)
Route: Barcelona—Moerdijk
Transfer time: 7 days

Press contact:
Corporate Communications International Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG
Email: tailwind-shipping-lines@schellenberg-kirchberg-pr.de /
corporate.communications.international@lidl.com

Press Release

Tailwind Intermodal 

Hamburg, 8 March 2024

News from Austria: Our new affiliated company Tailwind Intermodal, located in Graz, is set to organise and coordinate hinterland transports of all goods arriving with Tailwind Shipping Lines at the port of Koper.

The Slovenian city is the strategically most important port for us. Our ships in the Panda Express Service transport goods from China to Koper, while Tailwind Intermodal is responsible for the onward transportation to the hinterland as well as the return of empty containers to Koper so that they can be loaded onto the Panda Express returning to China.

Tailwind Intermodal commissions various partners to transport the goods with up to five daily train connections to the Cargo Center Graz (Styria/Austria), and to palletize them in the warehouse located directly at the terminal. Thanks to its geographical location between the Adriatic and the Baltic States, the Cargo Center Graz, in conjunction with Koper, forms an ideal connection to Eastern Europe with short transit times via a European seaport – and back.

By combining sea freight and onshore carriage, Tailwind offers to strengthen the performance of the supply chains between China and Europe as a neutral service provider in the market. Our aim is to ensure resilience along the entire supply chain, from organizing and coordinating sea transport to reloading freight trains to palletizing to truck delivery to the loading dock of the final destination.

Customer Notification 

Implementation of EU Emissions Trading System (ETS)

Hamburg, 7 December 2023

Starting on 1 January of next year, the shipping sector in Europe will become part of the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS).

In light of climate change, the European Union wants to dramatically reduce CO₂ emissions in the years ahead. To this end, for several years, various industrial sectors have been subject to emissions trading, which aims to advance this reduction by setting a price on CO₂ emissions and thereby creating an incentive for companies to emit less pollutants.  

Tailwind and its vessels will also be affected by the inclusion of shipping in the EU ETS. Under these circumstances, it is important for us to emphasise that we will be complying with all the resulting obligations – not only because they are legally mandatory, but also because protecting the environment is a matter of great concern to us. 

As a result of the introduction of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, we anticipate that meeting these requirements will lead to higher operating costs. We ask for your understanding that, like other shipping companies, we will be passing on these additional costs to our customers in the form of a surcharge. 

Going forward, the ETS will be reviewed quarterly on the basis of a benchmark public index. Given the phased approach adopted by the EU (see below), we can expect the surcharges to increase in the near future.  

Below, we provide an estimate based on a market value of carbon allowances of approximately EUR 85 per tonne of CO₂ for our trade lanes to illustrate what can be expected starting on 1 January 2024: 

Asia-Mediterranean:                      € 48 / TEU Dry - € 58 / TEU Reefer

Mediterranean-Asia:                      € 25 / TEU Dry - € 35 / TEU Reefer

Asia-North Europe:                         € 57 / TEU Dry - € 72 / TEU Reefer

North Europe-Asia:                         € 15 / TEU Dry - € 25 / TEU Reefer

Intra-Europe:                                    € 43 / TEU Dry - € 53 / TEU Reefer 

If you would like to learn more or have any questions, please feel free to contact us or our agents at any time. 

Press Release

Tailwind Shipping Lines to strengthen its Asia-Mediterranean connection

Hamburg, 22 September 2023

• Panda service with additional call at Colombo
• Adjustment to the Tiger service: Higher sailing frequency for cargo from Bangladesh
• New call for textile goods at Koper

Tailwind Shipping Lines, a subsidiary of Lidl International, is adjusting the sailing schedules of its two liner services in order to meet its customers’ needs even better. As part of these adjustments, the Panda Express (PAX) service between China and Europe will be expanded to include a port call at Colombo, Sri Lanka. There, the five 5,000+ TEU container ships in the PAX service will also load the cargo of the Tiger Express (TEX) service.

By transhipping this cargo in Colombo, Tailwind will offer a higher sailing frequency for cargo from Bangladesh plus another attractive port of destination in the Mediterranean region. To date, the TEX service, which is particularly attractive to customers in the textile industry, has set sail every 18 days in the direction of Europe with smaller vessels with capacities of roughly 1,000 TEU. In future, the TEX service will offer feeder sailings to Colombo fortnightly with the “Panda 002”, an 803 TEU feeder ship. It will also be possible to discharge textile goods from Bangladesh that are bound for southeast Europe in Koper – a port offering particularly good connections.

“These adjustments to our sailing schedules reflect the experience we have gained as a young shipping company,” says Christian Stangl, Managing Director of Tailwind Shipping Lines. “With them, Tailwind is sharpening its profile as a premium service provider on the Asia-Mediterranean route. In addition to non-food goods for Lidl, we will continue to focus on cargo from third-party customers. In doing so, we are meeting their needs for a higher sailing frequency. At the same time, we will continue to be reliable and punctual as well as to get the goods onto shelves quickly.” Cargo from both Bangladesh and China will reach Europe within 19 days.

The five vessels in the PAX service between China and Europe will operate fortnightly, sailing from Qingdao in China via Ningbo and Shenzhen (Da Chan Bay), thereafter Colombo, then to Koper, Barcelona, Rotterdam and then back. As a result of the adjustment to the TEX service, it will be possible to sub-charter one ship that has been deployed there to date until further notice.

Overall, compared to what was planned in early 2023, the annual capacity of Tailwind’s fleet has increased from 95,000 TEU to 108,000 TEU. “Thus, as a young shipping company, we are looking positively at next year and will continue to work hard to make our portfolio of offerings even more geared towards the needs of our customers,” Stangl says in summary.

Press contact:

Corporate Communications International Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG
Email: tailwind-shipping-lines@schellenberg-kirchberg-pr.de /
Corporate.Communications.International@Lidl.com

Press Release

Tailwind’s China-Europe Service Turns One

Hamburg, 13 July 2023

Tailwind is celebrating a birthday: one year ago, the first Tailwind vessel landed in the port of Taicang to take on board goods and transport them to Rotterdam (with stops at Ningbo, Da Chan Bay, and Barcelona).

“Entering the port for the first time was quite a moment for me since I’d never been to Taicang before. And the brand-new, beaming blue Tailwind containers ready to be loaded proved to be a truly impressive sight,” remembers Jan Nicolas Peters, the then-First Officer onboard the Wiking, now working as Senior Operation Manager at Tailwind headquarters.

The past 12 months reflect what is a true growth story: the Tailwind fleet has grown to eight vessels, which have completed a journey totalling almost 600,000 nautical miles (equalling roughly 2.8 times the distance between the earth and the moon) and transported roughly 140,000 TEU. Today, the company offers two regular services: Panda and Tiger, shipping goods from and to China and Bangladesh respectively to and from Europe. Tailwind owns 21,000 new 20-, 40-, and 45-foot steel containers as well as 300 40-foot reefer containers. The shipping company’s main focus is on transporting urgent cargo across the oceans and onto the shelves of our customers.

Sea Intelligence Service has termed Tailwind the fastest service between Far East and Europe. As a total newcomer, Tailwind managed to get to #46 on Alphaliner’s top 100 list. The head office in Hamburg already had to move into a larger space, a total of 25 of shipping experts now works for Tailwind.

Press Release

All hands on deck: Tailwind Shipping Lines opens new head office in Hamburg

Hamburg, 6 April 2023

Less than a year after its founding, Tailwind Shipping Lines is moving into its new headquarters in Hamburg. The team, which has grown to almost 30 employees, will now be working on the eighth floor of a modernised traditional Kontorhaus office building in Hamburg. The office is located right near the Church of St. Nicholas, one of Hamburg’s iconic landmarks, and looks out over the Port of Hamburg. On around 390 square metres, the team is ensuring that the goods of the company’s customers reach their destinations on time. Several guests joined the young shipping company in celebrating the opening of its modern workspace.

“This office is a good fit for Tailwind, as it offers us a space conducive to communication and a lot of room for creative teamwork. These are the right conditions for continuing to come up with modern, reliable and uncomplicated cargo solutions for our customers going forward,” said Christian Stangl, a member of the shipping company’s Executive Board, at the opening celebration.

Tailwind plans to expand its portfolio of offerings with additional activities before the end of the year. In summer, the team will also expand onto the seventh floor of the building, which is still under renovation at this time.

From now on, you will be able to reach the shipping company at:

Tailwind Shipping Lines GmbH & Co. KG
Neue Burg 2
20457 Hamburg
Telephone: + 49 40 235 149 150

Press Release

Panda Service Expands to Qingdao and Sails Fortnightly

Hamburg, 1 March 2023

Based on our core principles of reliability, plannability, and punctuality, we are happy to announce that we are expanding our Panda Service (PAX) offering to include Qingdao effective March 23rd, 2023. Proudly, our first call will be with our owned vessel Panda 001 (ex Talassa) fresh from dry-dock.

With the addition of Qingdao, the PAX service will now turn in 70 days with 5 ships providing fixed day fortnightly service to all ports we are serving, easing our customers’ supply chain planning. We are maintaining our best-in-class transit-time from South China to our European gateway of Koper with 19 days transit-time to rival rail alternatives.

Qingdao is a strong and important port/geographic area that when brought into the Panda service will provide our customers a hub-port for North China to bundle cargo from other North China areas and where we can serve inland locations (Shandong, Hebei, Henan, Shanxi, Liaoning etc. provinces) by barge, rail or truck. Pairing this with our tremendous speed to Europe delivers unparalleled logistics service.

Our Panda sailing frequency is effective immediately fortnightly. We have chartered the Tabea, who will join the service on April 20th, to complement our existing fleet providing this better sailing frequency. The PAX service rotation is Qingdao, Ningbo (incl. Taicang volumes), Da Chan Bay before proceeding to Koper, and thereafter Barcelona and Rotterdam prior returning to China.

For further service details, please reach out to contact@tailwind-shipping.com or to your commercial contact.

Reliable. Simple. Together.

Press Release

The latest fashion via ocean freight

Tailwind Shipping Lines launches TEX service

Hamburg, 16 February 2023. Less than a year after its founding, Tailwind Shipping Lines is launching a new liner service that will particularly focus on transporting textile goods from Bangladesh to Europe. It will be called the Tiger Express service (or “TEX service”, for short) after the Bengal tiger, the national animal of Bangladesh. The service will offer a high degree of reliability as well as a fast transit time of fewer than 20 days between Chittagong and Barcelona. For European retailers, this means that goods will arrive on their store shelves on time even in periods of often overburdened supply chains.

As a subsidiary of Lidl International, Tailwind Shipping Lines offers a cost-effective alternative to air freight for Lidl goods as well as for customers from the fashion and textile sectors. The new, attractive offer is thus also aimed at third-party customers. “Owing to the ships we deploy, we can reach the region without any intermediate stops or transshipment,” says Wolf Tiedemann, the board member of Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG responsible for logistics as well as the Managing Director of Tailwind Shipping Lines GmbH & Co. KG. “Especially thanks to the direct connection between Bangladesh and Europe, this will represent a huge increase in efficiency, which we will also use to boost the reliability of the supply chains for our customers.” This kind of smaller service also fosters greater proximity to customers and the ability to quickly meet their requirements.

Another big advantage will be the smaller ports that Tailwind’s Tiger Express service will call at. In both Barcelona and the Dutch port town of Moerdijk, it will be possible to load the goods onto trucks in a comparatively short time and transport them directly to their specific destinations.

Already last year, the Tailwind team successfully launched the Panda Express service, which operates between China and Europe. It sails on a route from Taicang via Ningbo and Shenzhen to Koper, Barcelona and Rotterdam. For questions or more information, please contact our sea freight experts by writing to contact@tailwind-shipping.com.

Press contact:

Corporate Communications International Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG
E-Mail: Corporate.Communications.International@Lidl.com