This week, I go back 31 years to June 20, 1977, when Melbourne Express made the first of only two visits to Port Chalmers.
At the time, the 25,558gt, 1641TEU steam turbine steamer inaugurated what was then known as the Anzecs (Australia-New Zealand-Europe container ship) service operated in conjunction with other European and British lines.
Completed by Bremer Vulkan on September 5, 1970, for the Australian service, later extended to New Zealand, Melbourne Express was also notable in being the first container ship to enter service after the formation of Hapag-Lloyd A.
G. five days earlier.
This merger united two old-established liner companies, the Hamburg-America Line (Hapag), which commenced operations in 1847, and the Bremen-based Norddeutscher Lloyd (North German Lloyd), which followed 10 years later.
Their second container ship was named Sydney Express.
This name is now carried for the third time by a member of the fleet.
However, one of the 4100TEU ships built in 2002 was given this name the following year.
And with Hapag-Lloyd markings, it was a case of only keeping their name alive with this vessel in the round-the-world service.
Renamed Maersk Dominica in 2006, the ship was back here again last week.
The Maersk takeover of P&O Nedlloyd in 2005 meant the end of Hapag-Lloyd's involvement in this European service.
But during that year, the German company acquired CP Ships plus its Contships and other associates.
Early the next year, the company announced it had entered agreements with French interests to operate two separate weekly loop services to New Zealand, one out and back via the Panama Canal and the other, likewise through Suez, the only one that would include Port Chalmers.
Fremantle Express inaugurated this link on March 1, 2006.
Hapag-Lloyd's partner in this service, France's CMA CGM, eventually arrived with the brand new, chartered CMA CGM Melbourne on April 19, 2006.
The ship was joined later by CMA CGM's Auckland and Utrillo.
This meant the return of French liner shipping after a break of four years.
But the presence was short-lived for, after 10 calls by these ships, it ended with the arrival of CMA CGM Auckland on April 10, 2007.
This followed a decision by the French company to go it alone with its much-publicised, new Nemo service on the same route, which saw Port Chalmers miss out in favour of Lyttelton.
Earlier this month, the company announced it would be dropping New Zealand ports from the Nemo service in August.
As for Hapag-Lloyd, considerable interest has been centred on its future in recent months.
Its owner, Tui A.
G, Europe's largest tourism conglomerate, wants to sell the company, the fifth-largest container-ship operator in the world.
Tui bought the company in 1998 and made it a fully owned subsidiary in 2002.
It is reported that Hamburg investment bankers have joined a consortium to buy the company, thereby keeping it in German hands.
But some sources consider Singapore's NOL (Neptune Orient Lines) to be the only serious contender.
Its liner-shipping arm, APL (the former American President Lines, acquired in 1997), operates the world's seventh-largest boxship fleet, and a merger with Hapag-Lloyd would push it into third place ahead of CMA CGM.
