ACL orders five new combination container/roll-on, roll-off ships
20.08.2012
The Grimaldi-owned transatlantic liner carrier, Atlantic Container Line (ACL), has ordered five new combination container/roll-on, roll-off ships after several years of planning from a Chinese shipyard that will be delivered in 2015.
The vessels have similar dimensions to its existing five G3 vessels but will have the ability to carry 3,800 TEU of containerised cargo, a 105 per cent increase in capacity compared to its current ships which can carry 1,850 TEU. The new ships will also have greater capacity to carry large ro-ro cargo - 764 units compared to the existing 525 units, and 1,307 cars compared to 1,000 at present, according to American Shipper.
The ships have an unusual design with both the house, bridge, ro-ro and car decks located in the midsection of the ship and containers carried fore and aft. Andrew Abbott, the president and CEO of ACL, said that instead of carrying 12,000-15,000 tons of ballast water, the ships will now be stabilised by having more containers.
Mr Abbot told London's Containerisation International that they (the G4 ships) really are the first ships of their type in the world with enhanced fuel and green efficiency, and will be used for carrying containers, auto and ro-ro, as their layout is totally different.
The ships will be built by Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding in Shanghai, a firm that Mr Abbott says has experience building complicated vessels such as LNG and LPG carriers as ships for the Chinese Navy.
He declined to say what ACL will pay for the ships but said that the price had fallen dramatically from the US$140 million to $150 million that the company was quoted when it first began shopping for replacement vessels.
With the increased capacity, the company hopes to go from having 4 per cent to 9 per cent of the transatlantic container market and from 12 to 18 per cent of the transatlantic ro-ro market.
For shippers, the new ships mean that ACL will be able to carry more of their cargo. At present, the company imposes allocations on its customers that limit the amount of cargo they can accept from any one shipper.
Mr Abbot also said the taller and unobstructed ro-ro decks will give it even more flexibility when handling oversize cargo. The company currently charters its car decks to Wallenius Wilhelmsen and Mr Abbot said he would like to see the relationship between the companies continue.
When the new ships go into service in 2015, the company will change its port rotation to include a port in the south east US - Charleston, Savannah or Jacksonville. That will probably require dropping another port in its current rotation. The company currently calls at ports in: Halifax, New York, Baltimore and Hampton Roads in North America and Liverpool, Antwerp, Gothenberg and Hamburg in Europe.
The vessels have similar dimensions to its existing five G3 vessels but will have the ability to carry 3,800 TEU of containerised cargo, a 105 per cent increase in capacity compared to its current ships which can carry 1,850 TEU. The new ships will also have greater capacity to carry large ro-ro cargo - 764 units compared to the existing 525 units, and 1,307 cars compared to 1,000 at present, according to American Shipper.
The ships have an unusual design with both the house, bridge, ro-ro and car decks located in the midsection of the ship and containers carried fore and aft. Andrew Abbott, the president and CEO of ACL, said that instead of carrying 12,000-15,000 tons of ballast water, the ships will now be stabilised by having more containers.
Mr Abbot told London's Containerisation International that they (the G4 ships) really are the first ships of their type in the world with enhanced fuel and green efficiency, and will be used for carrying containers, auto and ro-ro, as their layout is totally different.
The ships will be built by Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding in Shanghai, a firm that Mr Abbott says has experience building complicated vessels such as LNG and LPG carriers as ships for the Chinese Navy.
He declined to say what ACL will pay for the ships but said that the price had fallen dramatically from the US$140 million to $150 million that the company was quoted when it first began shopping for replacement vessels.
With the increased capacity, the company hopes to go from having 4 per cent to 9 per cent of the transatlantic container market and from 12 to 18 per cent of the transatlantic ro-ro market.
For shippers, the new ships mean that ACL will be able to carry more of their cargo. At present, the company imposes allocations on its customers that limit the amount of cargo they can accept from any one shipper.
Mr Abbot also said the taller and unobstructed ro-ro decks will give it even more flexibility when handling oversize cargo. The company currently charters its car decks to Wallenius Wilhelmsen and Mr Abbot said he would like to see the relationship between the companies continue.
When the new ships go into service in 2015, the company will change its port rotation to include a port in the south east US - Charleston, Savannah or Jacksonville. That will probably require dropping another port in its current rotation. The company currently calls at ports in: Halifax, New York, Baltimore and Hampton Roads in North America and Liverpool, Antwerp, Gothenberg and Hamburg in Europe.
