Seatrade/Streamlines, Hapag-Lloyd sign slot charter deal

Perishables specialist Streamlines will offer weekly service for containerized reefer cargo from U.S. South Atlantic to North Europe ports.

   Refrigerated (reefer) and perishable transport specialists Seatrade and StreamLines have entered into a slot charter agreement with Hapag-Lloyd covering the East Coast of North America to Europe trade, the companies said in a statement earlier this week.
   Seatrade on April 13 began offering weekly services for reefer cargo in containers from the ports of Savannah, Charleston and Norfolk, into London, Rotterdam, Antwerp, Bremerhaven and Le Havre through its affiliated company StreamLines.
   StreamLines will offer space on Hapag-Lloyd’s AL2, AL3 and AL5 loops, all of which are operated under the THE Alliance banner, with individual port-to-port transit times ranging from 10 days to 19 days.
   According to ocean carrier schedule and capacity database BlueWater Reporting, the AL2 service is operated with four vessels from Ocean Network Express (ONE), the newly merged container line formed from Japan’s three largest carriers, with an average capacity of 5,014 TEUs. The loop has a full port rotation of London, Le Havre, Rotterdam, Bremerhaven, New York/New Jersey, Charleston, Savannah and back to London. ACL also takes slots on the AL2
   The AL3 is operated with five 3,207-TEU average vessels, all from Hapag-Lloyd, with a full port rotation of Antwerp, Bremerhaven, London, Charleston, Port Everglades, Houston, Savannah, Norfolk and Antwerp.
   The AL5, meanwhile, operates as a pendulum service, making calls at both the U.S. East and West Coast, as well as in Latin America and the Caribbean. The loop is operated with ten ONE ships with an average capacity of 4,959 TEUs and a port rotation of Southhampton, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Antwerp, Le Havre, Savannah, Cartagena, Los Angeles, Seattle, Vancouver, Oakland, Los Angeles, Balboa, Cartagena, Caucedo, Savannah and Southampton.
   Transatlantic carrier ACL also takes slots on the AL2 and AL3 loops, while CMA CGM of France purchases space on the AL5 service.
   Seatrade and Hapag-Lloyd have also filed a filed an agreement with the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission regarding the slot-purchasing deal.