BOLT CANADA SUSPENDS ATLANTIC SERVICE

BOLT CANADA SUSPENDS ATLANTIC SERVICE

   BOLT Canada, the non-conference transatlantic liner operator owned by Sovfracht, of Russia, has suspended its Northern Europe/Montreal service for an indefinite period.

   Agency sources for BOLT confirmed that the carrier's two container ships have been idle in the port of Montreal for two weeks, but denied reports that the ships have been arrested.

   An agent for BOLT in Europe said that the company hopes that the service would be resumed, but could give no details.

   BOLT scaled down its transatlantic service last summer, when it took one of its three ships out of the service.

   A spokesman for United Atlantica Line, the French shipping line which charters slots on the BOLT ships, could not be contacted to comment on the continuation of its service.

   Last week Norasia Line announced that it was    withdrawing from the Europe/Montreal trade because of financial losses made by its non-conference transatlantic service.

   The main beneficiaries of the termination of the BOLT Canada and Norasia services are likely to be the big conference operators – including Canada Maritime, Cast, OOCL and Hapag-Lloyd – and Maersk Sealand, P&O Nedlloyd and NYK, which operate the last remaining Northern Europe/Montreal non-conference direct service.

   Details on the services of all Northern Europe/Montreal liner services are posted on the global schedules database ComPairSchedules, at http://www.compairschedules.com .