Shipping line launches seven-vessel investment

By YOKE HAR LEE

Anglo-Dutch shipping line P&O Nedlloyd is boosting its container service from Australasia to Europe and the East Coast of the United States with an $800 million investment in seven new vessels.

Each ship will have container capacity of 4100 TEUs (20ft, or 6m, equivalent) and will be in service by 2003.

They will also feature 1300 integral refrigerated points to cater for meat, fish, dairy and other perishables.

P&O's New Zealand managing director, Gary Quirke, told the Business Herald that the re-investment programme was taken in the context of the company's long-term commitment to the region.

The new vessels would enable the company to serve the important US and Europe markets with one service.

"With the faster and bigger ships, and using the Panama Canal, we are able to cater to both services," Mr Quirke said.

The new schedules had yet to be worked out.

"There are a lot of service details to be worked through, and we have to discuss these details with our European and North American trade service partners.

"What I can say is that transit times for New Zealand shippers will be equal to, or better than, what they are getting now."

The vessels will initially be on charter for eight years.

They will be built at Samsung, South Korea, and delivered in 2002.

P&O had also been upgrading its Southeast Asian service to run weekly.

In January, it announced that its Hong Kong service would also be weekly.

The P&O services, together with others making additional calls to Asia, represent a move by carriers to carve market share as Asian economies recover.