ACL switches German ports, ponders future vessels

ACL switches German ports, ponders future vessels Atlantic Container Line will move the German port-of-call for its container/roll-on, roll-off service from Bremerhaven to Hamburg's Unikai terminal.
   Andy Abbott, chief executive officer for ACL, said the change will take place next week. ACL's parent company Grimaldi, which is a part owner of the Unikai terminal, wants to simplify interlining cargo between ACL's service to North American and Grimaldi's services to the Mediterranean, West Africa and South America, he said.
   In an interview, Abbott also said ACL is looking at the process of replacing its fleet of five G3 container/ro-ro ships, which were built in the mid-1980s.
   'We are looking at designs,' he said, adding that replacement ships would probably be larger than the ships currently in its fleet, but still have the ability to carry a combination of container and ro-ro cargoes.
   An important consideration, he said, are limitations placed on ship designs by waterways and ports where the company's ships currently calling, such as the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal in the United States and locks at U.K.'s Port of Liverpool.
   Abbott said the company would like to have new vessels by 2012-2015, but is currently holding off on orders because the large backlog of containership ship orders at shipyards today has forced prices upward, and better prices for ships may be available when the market cools.