ACL registering some of its new ships in UK

The ocean carrier expects the first of its new container and roll-on/roll-off cargo vessels to enter service around Thanksgiving.    ACL announced this week it will register the first two of five new container/roll-on, roll-off ships under the U.K.-flag and make Liverpool their home port. The company’s existing ships are currently registered in Sweden and the company has not decided where it will flag the three other new ships.
   ACL is building five new ships at Hudong Zhonghua Shipbuilding’s shipyard on Chungxing Island near Shanghai to replace its current fleet.
   Andrew Abbott, chief executive officer of ACL, said the company expects the first of the ships to be delivered in the second half of October in China. The vessel will arrive in Europe in late November or December and then enter the transatlantic trade.
   The company expects to finalize a rotation for the ships in late spring, and is considering adding a call in the U.S. South Atlantic port range.
   ACL’s ships, which are custom-built for the transatlantic trade, will be entering a market where other carriers have increased capacity by about 30 percent this year, although last month CMA CGM issued a seasonal suspension for its Liberty Bridge service.
   He said exports from the U.S. to Europe have been dwindling and rates have been falling to the point where moving some containers eastbound “doesn’t pay, we are better off moving them back empty.” The weak European economy is reducing demand and the strong dollar has made some U.S. products relatively pricey.
   Abbott noted that while there is a historic late summer slump because factories in some European countries close for several weeks in August, volumes tend to pick up for the remainder of the year. But he said volumes in the transatlantic trade do not have a strong holiday peak like the transpacific.
   Abbott said the existing ACL ships will be scrapped.