October 9 - American Roll-on Roll-off Carrier LLC (ARC) has enhanced its Atlantic service with addition of the US flag ro-ro vessel Freedom to its fleet, and by adding Galveston, Texas and Veracruz in Mexico to its regular ports of call.
Effective immediately, the Atlantic liner service will consist of five vessels on a 10-day frequency, with a 50-day round trip duration. The regular ports of call on the service will be: Baltimore, Maryland; Charleston, South Carolina; Brunswick, Georgia; Galveston, Texas; Veracruz, Mexico; Antwerp, Belgium; Bremerhaven, Germany; and Southampton, UK. Other ports can be served on an inducement basis.
ARC says the service expansion will support its commercial partners and US Government customers. All of the vessels participating in the service are Maritime Security Programme (MSP) and Voluntary Intermodal Sealift Agreement (VISA) registered.
MSP is described as a US federal maritime financial sustainment programme for US flagged and US crewed military-useful sealift vessels, which operate in international markets. The 60-strong MSP fleet allows the US Government to provide sea freight services to the US Armed Forces, at a lower cost than owning and maintaining the equivalent capacity itself.
