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Displaying items by tag: WEC Lines

Shipping company WEC Lines has expanded its existing service into the Port of Liverpool with a new series of weekly calls to the UK port from northern Spain, Portugal, north Africa and the Canary Islands.

The Dutch (Rotterdam based) company is operating weekly services in addition to existing Spanish and Portuguese routes since 2019 to the Merseyside port that is part of the Peel Ports Group.

The new direct weekly services from Bilbao, Vigo and Gijon in Spain, Casablanca in Morocco, Setubal and Leixoes in Portugal and Santa Cruz and Las Palmas in the Canaries commenced this month.

The services will import a range of southern European and north African products.

Roger Megann, Managing Director from WEC Lines said: “This is a significant upgrade and expansion of our service, offering our customers weekly reliability and new direct connections to and from Portugal, Spain, Canaries and north Africa to Liverpool.

“WEC Lines is committed to providing excellence in its products and customer service. Our partnership with Port of Liverpool is a key element of this development.”

David Huck, Chief Operating Officer at Peel Ports said: “We are delighted to welcome WEC Lines’ significant expansion of services into the Port of Liverpool.

“This multi-continental weekly service is a further vote of confidence in the port and the trans-shipment opportunities of these routes further expand Liverpool’s global network and reach.

“The Port of Liverpool’s unrivalled location provides significant advantages as a more efficient and closer-to-end destination option, which reduces the road miles and congestion seen at other UK ports.”

 

Published in Ports & Shipping

#ports&shipping - According to the Port of Liverpool, Dutch company West European Container Lines (W.E.C.) is beginning a new service connecting the UK port with two major Portuguese ports and a new link with Spain.

The new weekly service will begin this month and connect Liverpool with Setubal and Leixoes, using the 882TEU vessel, mv Francop. The direct calls to Liverpool which is operated by the Peel Ports Group, will import a range of Iberian products.

Afloat today reported of another operator on the UK-Iberian link including Ireland, Containerships which is a subsidiary of the French shipping giant CMA-CGM. As also this month, MacAndrews an historic shipping company with Scottish origins dating to 1770 was merged into the single brand of Containerships. 

As for WEC Lines, they becomes the fourth major line announcement for Liverpool in the last few months. This follows the commitment by another giant in the shipping world, the Chinese operator COSCO, and the 2M shipping alliance which confirmed at the end of 2018 that Liverpool will be a permanent call on its TA4 transatlantic service.

There are now five of the world’s biggest shipping lines using Liverpool as a global gateway to the north of the UK and Midlands.

Earlier this year Peel Ports announced that it was aiming to create 250 jobs, mostly in Liverpool, to deal with continued business growth.

Published in Ports & Shipping

#ports&shipping - A new container shipping service connecting Dublin and Liverpool along with an Iberian network of ports is to begin later this month, writes Jehan Ashmore

The company WEC Lines is a Dutch operator that will connect the Irish Sea ports with Huelva, Vigo in Spain and Leixoes, Portugal. The weekly service will use 300TEU capacity containerships, however the new operation is expected to grow significantly once trade develops.

According to the Port of Liverpool, WEC Lines in 2016 had begun weekly calls at the UK north-west city port with Lisbon, Setubal, Leixoes and Sines, with other links to Ireland, Scotland, Morocco, Spain and the Canary Islands.

The Port of Liverpool (Peel Ports Group) has set up The Cargo200i campaign which calls for importers and exporters whose goods begin or end their journey in the north of the UK to switch current delivery of ocean freight. This would involve a shift in ships using ports in the south-east of England to that of the centrally-located Port of Liverpool.

The initiative aims to cut freight mileage by 200 million miles by 2020. For further information on the Cargo200i campaign click here

Published in Ports & Shipping

The Sydney Hobart Yacht Race

The Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race is an annual offshore yacht racing event with an increasingly international exposure attracting super maxi yachts and entries from around tne world. It is hosted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, starting in Sydney, New South Wales on Boxing Day and finishing in Hobart, Tasmania. The race distance is approximately 630 nautical miles (1,170 km).

The 2022 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race starts in Sydney Harbour at 1pm (AEDT) on Monday 26 December.

This is the 77th edition of the Rolex Sydney Hobart. The inaugural race was conducted in 1945 and has run every year since, apart from 2020, which was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

88 boats started the 2021 Rolex Sydney Hobart, with 50 finishing.

The Sydney Hobart Yacht Race - FAQs

The number of Sydney Hobart Yacht Races held by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia since 1945 is 75

6,257 completed the Sydney Hobart Yacht race, 1036 retired or were disqualified)

About 60,061 sailors have competed in the Sydney Hobart Race between 1945 and 2019

Largest fleets: 371 starters in the 50th race in 1994 (309 finished); 154 starters in 1987 (146 finished); 179 starters in 1985 (145 finished); 151 starters in 1984 (46 finished); 173 started in 1983 (128 finished); 159 started in 1981 (143 finished); 147 started in 1979 (142 finished); 157 started in 2019 (154 finished)

116 in 2004 (59 finished); 117 in 2014 (103 finished); 157 in 2019 (154 finished)

Nine starters in the inaugural Sydney Hobart Yacht Race in 1945

In 2015 and 2017 there were 27, including the 12 Clipper yachts (11 in 2017). In the record entry of 371 yachts in the 50th in 1994, there were 24 internationals

Rani, Captain John Illingworth RN (UK). Design: Barber 35’ cutter. Line and handicap winner

157 starters, 154 finishers (3 retirements)

IRC Overall: Ichi Ban, a TP52 owned by Matt Allen, NSW. Last year’s line honours winner: Comanche, Verdier Yacht Design and VPLP (FRA) owned by Jim Cooney and Samantha Grant, in 1 day 18 hours, 30 minutes, 24 seconds. Just 1hour 58min 32secs separated the five super maxis at the finish 

1 day 9 hours 15 minutes and 24 seconds, set in 2017 by LDV Comanche after Wild Oats XI was penalised one hour in port/starboard incident for a finish time of 1d 9h 48m 50s

The oldest ever sailor was Syd Fischer (88 years, 2015).

As a baby, Raud O'Brien did his first of some six Sydney Hobarts on his parent's Wraith of Odin (sic). As a veteran at three, Raud broke his arm when he fell off the companionway steps whilst feeding biscuits to the crew on watch Sophie Tasker sailed the 1978 race as a four-year-old on her father’s yacht Siska, which was not an official starter due to not meeting requirements of the CYCA. Sophie raced to Hobart in 1979, 1982 and 1983.

Quite a number of teenage boys and girls have sailed with their fathers and mothers, including Tasmanian Ken Gourlay’s 14-year-old son who sailed on Kismet in 1957. A 12-year-old boy, Travis Foley, sailed in the fatal 1998 race aboard Aspect Computing, which won PHS overall.

In 1978, the Brooker family sailed aboard their yacht Touchwood – parents Doug and Val and their children, Peter (13), Jacqueline (10), Kathryne (8) and Donald (6). Since 1999, the CYCA has set an age limit of 18 for competitors

Jane (‘Jenny’) Tate, from Hobart, sailed with her husband Horrie aboard Active in the 1946 Race, as did Dagmar O’Brien with her husband, Dr Brian (‘Mick’) O’Brien aboard Connella. Unfortunately, Connella was forced to retire in Bass Strait, but Active made it to the finish. The Jane Tate Memorial Trophy is presented each year to the first female skipper to finish the race

In 2019, Bill Barry-Cotter brought Katwinchar, built in 1904, back to the start line. She had competed with a previous owner in 1951. It is believed she is the oldest yacht to compete. According to CYCA life member and historian Alan Campbell, more than 31 yachts built before 1938 have competed in the race, including line honours winners Morna/Kurrewa IV (the same boat, renamed) and Astor, which were built in the 1920s.

Bruce Farr/Farr Yacht Design (NZL/USA) – can claim 20 overall wins from 1976 (with Piccolo) up to and including 2015 (with Balance)

Screw Loose (1979) – LOA 9.2m (30ft); Zeus II (1981) LOA 9.2m

TKlinger, NSW (1978) – LOA 8.23m (27ft)

Wild Oats XI (2012) – LOA 30.48m (100ft). Wild Oats XI had previously held the record in 2005 when she was 30m (98ft)

©Afloat 2020