AAL Shipping will operate a monthly service between Asia and the Americas during 2021. Multiple multipurpose vessel types will be employed.
Over the past 12 months, AAL has been carrying a much broader portfolio of cargoes into Central America, the US Gulf and the US East Coast. Michael Morland, general manager of AAL Americas, explained: “Our service connects Southeast Asia, Far East, US Gulf and the US East Coast, and we are well placed to service cargoes and parcels of any size. A lot of the smaller cargoes tend to be booked at origin in Asia, whereas project cargo is often booked from within the USA, like renewables into the US Gulf and energy and LNG sector projects… We are, however, noticing a slow shift towards more project cargo influence from Asia.”
He added: “Despite a lot of experience on this trade lane, building the market to justify regular monthly multipurpose tramp sailings has taken time and hard work. Looking back a few years, volumes could not be relied on and we saw long-standing players pull out. We do not take our recent success for granted and are pleased with how well the market has taken to our service integrity.”
