THE Alliance picks DP World for UK calls

The container shipping consortium known as ‘THE Alliance’ has decided that all its mainline UK calls will be either to Southampton or London Gateway – which are both operated by DP World.

The consortium comprises Hapag Lloyd, K-Line, MOL, NYK Line and Yang Ming. It will bring vessels on its FE1, FE2 and FE4 services into Southampton. Those on FE3 and FE5 into London Gateway These are the first regular Asia-Europe services to call at London Gateway.

Vessels deployed on the consortium’s transatlantic AL3, AL4 and AL5 services, will call at Southampton while those on AL1 and AL2 will call into London Gateway.

Chris Lewis, UK managing director of DP World, said: “For three years, DP World London Gateway has been going from strength-to-strength, winning numerous North-South services, handling a large number of ad-hoc Asia-Europe vessels, increasing productivity and becoming more efficient. Meanwhile, DP World Southampton has consistently maintained its record as the UK’s best performing container terminal and increased its market share.”