UASC Enters North Atlantic Trade

United Arab Shipping Company (UASC), a leading container shipping line and emerging global carrier, has announced that it has agreed a new partnership with CMA CGM and Hamburg Süd to enter the North Atlantic trade. 

Through this new vessel sharing agreement, the three partner companies will operate a service on the Transatlantic North trade, linking Northern Europe with the United States East Coast.

The service will call at the ports of Antwerp, Rotterdam, Bremerhaven, Le Havre, Southampton, New York, Norfolk, Charleston and Savannah and vice-versa, offering competitive transit times and a weekly capacity allocation of around 3,300 TEU.

UASC’s entry into the North Europe - North America trade marks an important step in the expansion of UASC’s global network and will enable UASC’s customer to benefit from a significantly expanded geographical reach and an enhanced range of services. 

Jørn Hinge, President and CEO at UASC, commented:  “This announcement marks an exciting new chapter for UASC as we enter the North Atlantic service and further cement our position as an emerging global carrier.  Broadening our network coverage through partnership agreements an integral part of UASC’s ambitious expansion plans. Collaboration with other leading carriers ensures that we can provide our customers with the widest scope of global services and the lowest possible unit costs, whilst growing in a responsible fashion and without adding unnecessary capacity.  

“We are excited about the opportunities that this new Transatlantic service will create for UASC customers. By partnering with two of our key partners CMA CGM and Hamburg Süd, with whom UASC has important long-term agreements on other trades, we are confident that we will deliver fast transit times, high standards of reliability and service excellence on this route.” 

The new service will start in the third week of May 2015.  More details on transit times and allocation will be published soon. 

This new partnership is the latest in a series of major announcements by UASC. In September 2014, UASC announced the OCEAN3 alliance with CMA CGM and China Shipping Container Lines, for which services commenced in January.  UASC has also entered into a general cooperation agreement with Hamburg Süd to secure entry to the South American trades for the first time, with services due to start in mid-April.  

UASC is also engaged in a major newbuilding program for 17 new ships; eleven 15,000 TEU vessels (A15) and six 18,800 TEU vessels (A18), which will be among the most cost-efficient and environmentally friendly vessels in the world.  The first three A15 vessels have been delivered to the UASC fleet, achieving the distinction of being the world’s first LNG-ready ultra-large container vessels. In total, 11 vessels from UASC’s newbuild program will be delivered by the end of 2015.