The Norwegian car carrier announced the service last week, with the first sailing on a roll-on/roll-off vessel with capacity for 6500 car-equivalent units.
Hoegh has already signed a new contract with a Detroit car-maker – although it has yet to announce it publicly – with operations starting in March.
The direct route is a first for Hoegh that previously shipped to Europe and then transferred cars to an Australia-bound vessel.
This new service will have faster transit times and require less handling. This minimises the potential for damage, according to Hoegh’s head of the America region, Shane Warren.
“Time to market is important for the customer,” he said.
The new service puts Hoegh in direct competition with Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics, the only roll-on/roll-off carrier that currently offers direct ocean service to the Australia and New Zealand region from the US.
WWL carries about 55,000 vehicles per year to Australia and New Zealand.
The new Hoegh service will use ships that originate in Europe and unload in Baltimore before being loaded with vehicles from the new customer.
The ships then stop in Jacksonville, Florida, another major car port, before travelling through the Panama Canal to the Mexican port of Lazaro Cardenas, where vehicles produced by the new customer will be loaded. This port has recently been expanded to create Mexico’s first purpose-built car port that starts operations next month.
The route will continue through the ports of Auckland, Brisbane, Port Kembla, Melbourne and Fremantle.
Hoegh Autoliners currently has roll-on/roll-off (Ro/Ro) vehicle transportation services servicing Australia, New Zealand, Europe, South Africa and the Indian Ocean.
It has four sailings per month – including two from Europe to Australia and New Zealand – and has 50 vessels in global trade systems servicing customers including manufacturers of new cars and heavy machinery rolling goods.
The company transports about 2.45 million vehicles each year.
By Neil Dowling
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