REVIVING Hapag Lloyd's old Yankee Clipper loop, startup American Feeder Lines (AFL) has set sail from Halifax, Nova Scotia with the 700-TEU AFL New England to begin a service it hopes will one day run along the US eastern seaboard and into the Gulf of Mexico.AFL plans to focus on heavy containers, weighing more than the legal highway limits and well as reefer boxes, hazardous cargo, which includes many petrochemical products, first going from Halifax to Portland, Maine, then to Boston and back to Halifax in Canada.
"We'll begin with a weekly service," said Rudy Mack, the former Hapag-Lloyd Americas CEO who is the new line's chief executive, adding that it would mostly carry feeder cargo from major carriers.
The chartered vessel was to sail mid-June, but financing has been a problem. AFL continues to seek financing for construction of 10 ships in the 1,300-TEU range. AFL is considering a second ship to be introduced next spring to provide a twice-weekly service.
The Massachusetts Port Authority said the new service will call Tuesdays at Boston's Conley Container Terminal, reported Newark's Journal of Commerce. "The New England-Halifax Shuttle is great news for Boston providing New England shippers with a vital connection to eastern Canada's main transshipment hub," said Massport port director Mike Leone.
AFL chairman and founding partner Percy Pyne said he needed US$750 million to realise his ambitions, and that the company would be profitable in two years. But fellow partner Tobias Koenig said money is hard to find as lenders and investors are wary of unproven business models.
Source : HKSG, 11.07.11.
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