Rickmers, ECL expand transpacific cooperation

Rickmers, ECL expand transpacific cooperation    Rickmers-Linie, the Hamburg based breakbulk, heavy lift and project cargo specialist, and Eastern Car Liner Ltd. of Tokyo said they will expand their cooperation in the transpacific trade.
   Since 2006 Rickmers-Linie has deployed ECL’s vessels from the United States to Asia. The newly concluded agreement will allow Rickmers-Linie to also utilize ECL vessels eastbound from Asia to the U.S. Gulf and East Coast.
   The four 11,000-deadweight-ton vessels involved in the cooperation come with heavy lift gear capable of lifting loads of up to 120 tons. The vessels were built between 1995 and 1998 and are equipped with roll-on/roll-off ramps. Regular loadings ports within Rickmers-Linie’s eastbound service will include Moji, Kure, Nagoya, Hitachi and other ports not presently served by Rickmers’ round-the-world vessels.
   The four vessels involved are Fortune Epoch, Reina Rosa, Del Sol and Millennium Falcon.
   Schedule details for the expanded service and company information are available on Rickmers-Linie's Web site.