SAECS loop switches U.K. call to Thamesport

SAECS loop switches U.K. call to Thamesport    A joint weekly Europe/South Africa service operated by Maersk Line, Safmarine Container Lines, Deutsche Afrika-Linien, and MOL will Thursday switch calls from Bristol on the United Kingdom’s West Coast to Thamesport on the East Coast.
   The 1,647-TEU “Sirius” will make the first call at the Medway port on the South Africa Europe Container Service (SAECS) “Intermediate” string.
   The service operates seven ships of about 1,800 TEUs with a revised port rotation of Thamesport, Antwerp, Bremerhaven, Le Havre, Lisbon, Cape Town, East London, Durban, Port Elizabeth, Cape Town, Lisbon and back to Thamesport.
   Thamesport (London) Ltd., owned by Hutchison Ports (UK) Ltd., is upgrading its refrigerated handling capacity with new reefer gantries being installed in the automated storage areas allowing containers to be stacked four high, instead of the previous three high. As a result, the port’s capacity for “live” refrigerated containers will increase from 360 plug-in points to 440 points. The improvements are expected to be completed by May.