Samskip, Team Lines coordinate Bilbao services

Samskip, Team Lines coordinate Bilbao services Intra-Europe carriers Samskip Multimodal Container Logistics and Team Lines, owned by Belgium-based Delphis, have agreed to coordinate their sailings to and from Bilbao in Spain.
   The vessel sharing agreement came into effect on Monday and will allow both companies to offer a twice-weekly link between the Benelux and Bilbao.
   Samskip has increased the tonnage on its weekly Bilbao/Tilbury/Rotterdam service from a single 340-TEU vessel to a 549-TEU one. Samskip’s service departs Bilbao on Fridays to arrive at Tilbury on Mondays and Rotterdam on Tuesdays, which the company said allows Spanish shippers to circumvents France's ban on weekend truck movements.
   Team Lines' Rotterdam/Antwerp/Bilbao service is operated by a 707-TEU vessel. Southbound it departs Antwerp on Thursdays, Rotterdam on Fridays and arrives at Bilbao on Monday mornings.
   Under the VSA, all operations at Bilbao will be concentrated at the ATM Terminal, owned by Abra Terminales Mar'timas, SA.
   In July, Samskip acquired the door-to-door business unit of Team Lines from Delphis, who in the summer of 2006 paid 40 million euros ($53.4 million) to purchase the Hamburg-based carrier from Finnlines.