Eastern Car Liner and Rickmers-Linie Agree on Trade Deal

Eastern Car Liner Ltd., Tokyo, and Rickmers-Linie, the Hamburg based breakbulk, heavylift and project cargo specialist, have concluded a deal concerning the transpacific westbound trade. ECL, which provides a monthly liner service from Japan to the U.S. East Coast, will deliver its multipurpose vessels after the end of each eastbound voyage to Rickmers-Linie, which will then charter the ships for transpacific westbound voyages and redeliver them to Japan. The cooperation will start from January 2006 and is set for a period of two years. The four 11,000dwt vessels, which are involved in this cooperation, come with heavylift gear capable of lifting loads of up to 120 tons. They were built between 1995 and 1998 and are equipped with ro-ro ramps. Regular loading ports within Rickmers-Linie' westbound service will be Philadelphia, Charleston and Houston, with discharge ports Busan, Xingang, Qingdao, Shanghai and Yokohama. With this deal, both ECL and Rickmers-Linie are optimizing their operations within their transpacific services. For Rickmers-Linie, these trip-chartered vessels will be the backbone of an enhanced westbound service, where additional tonnage will be chartered subject to demand. ECL, in turn, secures a scheduled re-delivery of these vessels for its eastbound service from Japan to the U.S.