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