New World Alliance to launch new trans-Atlantic service

The New World Alliance (TNWA) – APL Co. Pte Ltd (APL), Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) and Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) last week announced the launch of a new Trans-Atlantic service connecting Europe and the UK with the US East Coast and Panama.

The Americas Europe Express (AEE) service is TNWA’s third dedicated Trans-Atlantic service. It offers multiple weekly sailings from major US and European ports, as well as competitive transit times from Latin America to North Europe via the trans-shipment hub in Panama.

The Alliance will deploy high reefer capacity ships with an average effective capacity of 3,200 TEU.  APL will operate three vessels, and HMM and MOL will operate one vessel each.

The AEE service rotation covers the following ports: Manzanillo (Panama), Charleston (US), New York (US), Rotterdam (Netherlands), Bremerhaven (Germany), Felixstowe (UK), New York (US), Charleston (US), and Manzanillo (Panama).

Start dates for the service as follows:

•Westbound: APL Shanghai, sailing from Rotterdam, 29 February 2012

•Eastbound: APL Indonesia, sailing from Manzanillo, 5 March 2012

TNWA member lines APL Co. Pte Ltd (APL), Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) and Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL), serve all locations on the major East-West container trades.

The new service comes hot on the heels of the G6 Alliance bringing together members of The New World Alliance (Hyundai Merchant Marine, APL, and Mitsui O.S.K Lines) and members of the Grand Alliance (Hapag-Lloyd, Nippon Yusen Kaisha, and Orient Overseas Container Line). The new partnership will create one of the leading networks in the Far East-to-Europe and Far East-to-Mediterranean container shipping markets with more than 90 ships in nine services calling at more than 40 ports in Asia, Europe and the Mediterranean.

The cooperation of these six lines will enable product and service features to be more readily adjusted to market requirements. The new alliance is scheduled to begin operation by April 2012, with seven joint services operating between Asia and Europe, and two services to the Mediterranean.

It includes a direct Far East-Baltic service with calls at Gdansk, Poland, and Gothenburg, Sweden,  as well as trans-shipment in Singapore.

The new alliance will be characterized by fast transit times and broad port coverage, as well as the latest vessels with capacities of up to 14,000 TEU.