LAURITZEN COOL ADDS SOUTHBOUND LEG TO SOUTH AFRICA/ EUROPE SERVICE

LAURITZEN COOL ADDS SOUTHBOUND LEG TO SOUTH AFRICA/ EUROPE SERVICE    Reefer ship operator Lauritzen Cool, established after the merging of the commercial operations of Cool Carriers and Lauritzen Reefers, has added a southbound leg to the previous Cool Carriers weekly service from South Africa to north Europe.
   Lauritzen Cool was formed after J. Lauritzen’s acquisition of Cool Carriers from Leif H'egh & Co. on Jan. 1.
   The revised Lauritzen Cool South Africa service now uses five dedicated container-fitted reefer vessels with a 14-day transit time to Cape Town from the European ports of Sheerness and Antwerp. Calls at Rotterdam are subject to inducement. Calls at Durban are likely to be added to the rotation in May.
   Southbound, the service focuses on containerized cargo, but can also cater for vehicles and project cargoes. The northbound leg serves the traditional South African fruit export market to north Europe.
   The agents for Lauritzen Cool South African service are Van Uden Maritime Agencies in Rotterdam and Independent Maritime Agencies in Birmingham. U.K. The agent in South Africa is RFL in Cape Town.
   Leif H'egh’s sale of Cool Carriers represents the end of its interests in the reefer trade and follows the sale of H'egh’s US-Asia liner service to Egon Oldendorff, due to take effect from March. Following this, the H'egh Lines name will only be associated with its Open Hatch Contract services.