Rickmers adds U.K. calls to round-the-world service

Rickmers adds U.K. calls to round-the-world service    Rickmers-Linie, the Hamburg-based multipurpose and heavy-lift shipping line, said it will increase the number of direct calls it makes at British ports of during 2004, adding the ports of Liverpool and Teesport.
   The shipping line’s vessels, employed in a fortnightly eastbound round-the-world service, will make U.K. calls on alternate voyages. The link will provide a monthly service from the United Kingdom to Asia and from the United States to the United Kingdom, the company said.
   The addition of calls at British ports follows a requirement by steelmaker Corus for Rickmers-Linie to move heavy-lift cargo from the United Kingdom to the Far East. In addition to the monthly calls at British ports, the “Pearl String” round-the-world service of the German operator calls every 14 days at the ports of Hamburg; Antwerp; Genoa; Jakarta; Singapore; Bangkok; Haiphong; Hong Kong; Shanghai; Xingang and Dalian; Masan; Kobe or Yokohama; Houston; New Orleans; Newport News, Va.; and Camden, N.J. Additional ports are called on inducement.