APL Announces New Mediterranean Atlantic Service

Consistent with its announced expansion of service offerings in the re
gion, APL will start a new transatlantic service from the Mediterranea
n early November. The weekly sailings will include port calls at Gioia
Tauro, Genoa and Algeciras with feeder connections to/from Greece, Tu
rkey and the Black Sea ports. APL will slotcharter space from Maersk S
ealand and the service is conditional upon its becoming effective at t
he FMC.
Over the past twelve months APL has been growing its service profile t
hrought Europe with the establishment of a new headquarters in London
and developing its own organisations in Austria, Benelux, France, Germ
any, Italy and the U.K. APL’s aim is to deliver a full intermodal ser
vice package in Europe and provide customers with a global liner netwo
ke in step with APL’s well-established Asian and Americas operations.
APL will offer a weekly service in both directions. The port rotaion i
n the US will be New York, Charleston, Miami and Houstoon. Particularl
y competitive transit times will be provided, for instance Genoa to Ne
w York in 12days and to Miami in 17. From Algeciras, New York is reach
ed in 8 days and charleston in 10. On the eastbound leg, there will be
a 14 days transit Houston-Algeciras and 14 days from Charleston to Gi
oia Tauro.
Ken Sorensen, the President of APL Europe said, “It is APL’s clearly
stated intent to provide a comprehensive international, intermodal tr
ansport system throught Europe. I consider this latest addition to our
services as an important element of this plan and look forward to fur
ther extending our offerings to customers in the Mediterranean in the
future.”
The Atlantic link in the Mediterranean complements a weekly Asian serv
ice already provided by APL. This includes sailings to/from Genoa, Bar
celona and Fos/Marseilles for major South East and North Asia destinat
ions.
A further three new APL services are also about to commence in mid-Oct
ober, each linking North Europe and North America on a weekly basis.
New agency networks have been established to cover Turkey and the Blac
k Sea and also in Greece, adding to those already in Spain, Portugal a
nd Italy. APL Europe’s Vice President Sales and Marketing, David Appl
eton commented, “In expanding our services to Mediterranean based cus
tomers we are pleased to have the support of a group of agents who rep
resent the highest degree of professional expertise available in the a
rea. In establishing partnerships with shippers we require, and believ
e we have acquired the best in local parters.”