Lloyd Triestino To Offer Transpacific Fast Shuttles

Italy's Lloyd Triestino (LT) will offer its customers on the transpacific much faster transit times following the re-scheduling of the weekly HTW and TPN services. The changes to these services are expected to take effect in May 2001. The HTW service is operated under a slot-charter agreement with Evergreen. At the present time, it is operated by six 3,428 TEU vessels which round-trip in 42 days. By end May, these ships will have been replaced by one 5,364 TEU and three 4,211 TEU ships, all capable of maintaining a 25-knot service speed. The HTW service will have the following port rotation: Los Angeles - Kaohsiung - Hong Kong - Los Angeles. Typical transit times are Hong Kong - Los Angeles in 11 days; Kaohsiung - Los Angeles in 12 days; and Los Angeles - Kaohsiung in 13 days. The TPN link is operated as a joint service with Evergreen, the round-trip time being 35 days. It currently utilizes two 4,211 TEU and three 5,364 TEU vessels. The beginning of May will see the service schedule upgraded to round-trip in 28 days using four 25-knot post-Panamax vessels. Ports of call will be: Tacoma - Vancouver - Kaohsiung - Hong Kong - Osaka - Tacoma. Again, fast transits will be a feature of this revised service. For example Tacoma - Kaohsiung in 13 days, Vancouver - Kaohsiung in 11 days, Vancouver - Hong Kong in 12 days and Hong Kong - Tacoma in 13 days. According to LT's Chairman, Pier Luigi Maneschi, the improved services will be amongst the fastest on the Pacific: "Lloyd Triestino has only recently re-entered the transpacific trade and so we must offer a service which is equal if not better than the established players. We believe that the TPN and HTW service schedules will enable us to quickly rebuild our market share in these trades."