ACL is about to launch five new ships in the combined container/cars/ro-ro class. The first of the five new vessels, Atlantic Star, will call at the Port of Gothenburg in the lead-up to Christmas, around December 20. The ships are the world's largest in their class.
ACL has been operating in Gothenburg since 1967. With its direct service between Gothenburg and the east coast of North America, it offers Swedish export and import companies links to Halifax, New York, Baltimore and Norfolk.
The ships will have a new, efficient hull design, without a bulb, offering more effective propulsion.
Around 10 per cent of Swedish containerised exports are bound for the USA, making the country one of Sweden's largest export partners outside Europe. A significant proportion of the exports are transported via one of ACL's direct services from the Port of Gothenburg.
The vessels carry both containerised freight and rolling freight – freight that can be rolled onto the vessels, such as construction equipment, cars and boats. ACL's wholly owned fleet comprises five conro ships (containers and ro-ro).
Despite the fact that the new vessels are not much longer or broader than the ones they are replacing, capacity will increase dramatically. The present ships can carry 1,850 TEUs* whilst the new ones can carry 3,800 TEUs. Ro-ro cargo space will increase from 18,500 square metres to 28,900 square metres and the maximum ceiling height will increase from 6.2 m to 7.4 m.
The ships will have a new, efficient hull design, without a bulb, offering more effective propulsion.
The five new ships were built at the Hudong Zhonghua shipyard in Shanghai and they will all be in operation by the second quarter of 2016. They will be replacing Atlantic Cartier, Atlantic Companion, Atlantic Compass, Atlantic Concert and Atlantic Conveyor which will all be gradually phased out.