Maersk revives Farrell Lines brand

Maersk revives Farrell Lines brand       Maersk Line Ltd. said it is “revitalizing” the Farrell Lines brand and has reflagged two roll-on/roll-off ships as U.S.-flag vessels to operate as Farrell Lines ships.
      The Alliance Beaumont and Alliance Charleston, were reflagged in February. The Alliance Beaumont will participate in the U.S. Maritime Administration's Maritime Security Program. They will join the Alliance St. Louis and Alliance Norfolk, which have been U.S.-flag ships since February 2008. The four ships are operated in partnership with H'egh Autoliners and its U.S. affiliate, Alliance Navigation.
      The two new vessels have 710,000 square feet of total stowage capacity, representing 7,900 car equivalent units and more than 250,000 square feet of deck space for military cargo. The Norfolk and St. Louis are smaller with 584,000 square feet of total
capacity including 6,500 car equivalent units.
      John Reinhardt, president and chief executive officer of both Farrell and Maersk Line Ltd., said with the additional ships “we have four ships to meet the increasing demand for our services.”
      Maersk Line Ltd said it would use the Farrell Lines brand for its U.S.-flag ro/ro ships. Maersk acquired the Farrell brand when it purchased P&O Nedlloyd in 2005. P&O had acquired Farrell in 2000. Farrell was founded in 1925 as a carrier operating between the U.S. and South Africa.
      Maersk Line Ltd., a subsidiary of Denmark’s A.P. Moller – Maersk Group, is one of the largest contractors to the military. But rules governing who can operate ships under government contracts can restrict the work it obtains.
      Maersk said last month it was told it could not bid on renewal of a contract to operate eight “fast sealift ships” that it had operated for the past four years. The company said is because the ships were transferred from the Military Sealift Command to the MarAd’s Ready Reserve Force, and MarAd regulations are more restrictive, requiring an operator to be as “section two citizen,” a company with its ultimate headquarters in the United States.
      But Maersk said the decision to revive the Farrell brand is unrelated to the fast sealift ship contract with Marad.
      The companies said it was debuting the new Farrell Lines “branding” at a Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command (SDDC) Training Symposium this week in Atlanta. The company has created a new Web site. Farrell has the same Norfolk address as Maersk Line Ltd.
      (More information about U.S.-flag ro/ros can be found in the December American Shipper, pages 28-30.)