Shipping company ACL has announced a new container service, in partnership with BG Freight Line and Peel Ports Group, connecting Ireland and North America via a UK or Continental transshipment port.
The service, which officially commenced on 10 May in New York, is claimed to have transit times up to two weeks faster than any other similar service.
The partnership will offer importers and exporters access to/from the US and Canada with direct calls at the major ports of Halifax, New York, Baltimore and Norfolk via the Port of Liverpool.
BG Freight Line’s Irish Sea hub feeder service already sails between Dublin, Belfast and Liverpool, while ACL’s G4 Con-Ro ships connect the city and the largest UK market to the US and Canada.
ACL’s new schedule will see Liverpool used as the first port in and out of Europe and will not stop at any other intermediate European ports to further reduce the transit times.
ACL and BG Freight Line – part of the wider Peel Ports Group – have also agreed to coordinate their schedules to minimise connection times at the Port of Liverpool, while both will also be given berth priority to ensure those smooth connections.
David Huck, Chief Operating Officer at Peel Ports Group, commented, “It is a really proud moment to be supporting the fastest ever Ireland to North America container service. This is a great example of collaboration between all three parties providing real business benefits for our customers and the marketplace.”
He added, “The fact we operate container terminals in Liverpool and Dublin, and that BG Freight Line is part of the wider Peel Ports Group, means we have much more control over how we manage this service, which in turn helps reduce those transit times and brings a real service differentiator to the market.”
Andrew Abbott, CEO at ACL, stated, “This new Irish service is in a totally different league to all other existing sailing options via continental and other UK ports. ACL has called at the Port of Liverpool for 57 consecutive years now, so we are excited to further develop what has been a long and productive development with our friends, in a place we consider our home.”
The first eastbound sailing for this new service will be the Atlantic Sun. It set sail from New York on Friday, before it goes onto call at Baltimore, then connecting back into Liverpool with the JSP Anna, which will then arrive in Dublin on 26 May and Belfast on 27 May.
The JSP Anna – the first westbound sailing of the service – will sail from Belfast that same day on 27 May, before arriving in New York on 6 June.
