New World Alliance to launch Trans-Atlantic service

Panama is moving closer to its goal of becoming a logistical hub with the announcement of a major new shift in container vessel deployments.

The New World Alliance (TNWA), comprising APL Co. Pte Ltd (APL), Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) and Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) today announced the launch of a new Trans-Atlantic service connecting Europe and the UK with the US East Coast and Panama.

As reported in LM, Panama Canal Authority Administrator CEO Alberto Alemán Zubieta recently visited ports in the East and Gulf Coasts to showcase the Canal´s progress on expansion and future plans.
In an interview, he said that a new mega-hub on the scale of Singapore was likely.

“It will be a game changer in world maritime commerce,” he added.????

The Americas Europe Express (AEE) service is TNWA’s third dedicated Trans-Atlantic service. It offers multiple weekly sailings from major US and European ports, as well as competitive transit times from Latin America to North Europe via the trans-shipment hub in Panama.????

The Alliance will deploy high reefer capacity ships with an average effective capacity of 3,200 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs). 

APL will operate three vessels, and HMM and MOL will operate one vessel each.?The AEE service rotation covers the following ports: Manzanillo (Panama), Charleston (US), New York (US), Rotterdam (Netherlands), Bremerhaven (Germany), Felixstowe (UK), New York (US), Charleston (US), and Manzanillo (Panama). ????

Start dates for the service as follows: ??
·      Westbound: APL Shanghai, sailing from Rotterdam, 29 February 2012 ??
·      Eastbound: APL Indonesia, sailing from Manzanillo, 5 March 2012??