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SCMP Reporter

AMERICAN President Lines (APL) is to improve its container service to Jeddah from fortnightly to weekly beginning this month, according to a senior executive.

  Managing director for west Asia John Bowe said the service, which would be faster and highly reliable, would be supported by APL's satellite-based telecommunications system that had been extended as far west as the Red Sea region.

  APL also has added a regular fortnightly call at Hodeidah in Yemen, where the carrier had only made calls on an irregular basis.

   APL also can provide services to other destinations in Yemen, including Aden, Mocha and Mukalla.

  The company will continue its fortnightly service to Aqaba, and will also provide service to and from Port Sudan.

  As a result of vessel redeployments, better relay connections and other improvements, Mr Bowe said APL was now able to offer a 24-day, fixed-day delivery to Jeddah from Hongkong and China, compared with transit times that ranged from 25 to 31 days.

  Transit times have also been improved from all North American and Asian origin points.

  Mr Bowe said APL has been a pioneer in supporting its intra-Asia and Middle East operations with state-of-the-art information technology ''because customers deserve to know where their cargo is, and when it will arrive''.

  Although other APL service points in Saudi Arabia, including Dammam and Riyadh, have been connected to the company's electronic cargo-tracking system for some time, Mr Bowe said the addition of Jeddah to the information system would ensure high service levels for growing Red Sea volumes.

  ''Timely, accurate information can translate into real advantages for our customers - and for their customers - who can now update the status of their shipments with a quick telephone call to any APL office,'' said Mr Bowe.

  Good telecommunications also helped ensure reliable shipments, and reliability was crucial to importers of perishable commodities as well as consumer goods and other shipments, he said.

  APL saw demand growing steadily for both dry and refrigerated shipments into the Red Sea region, from North America, Asia and the Indian sub-continent region.

  ''APL's ships serving the Red Sea have been well utilised, and we have even been hiring additional space to meet demand,'' he said.

   APL has brought in a second container ship to operate in the service.

  By deploying both ships under the full control of APL, the line could ensure the vessel space, fixed-day reliability, improved frequency, and faster transit times that customers required.

  Mr Bowe noted the company also offers a wide range of equipment, even during peak seasons.

   Container sizes include 20-foot standard and 40 ft and 45 ft high-cube containers, and the largest inventory of refrigerated containers in the Pacific region.

  APL, which helped pioneer containerisation in the Middle East in the early 1970s, is the leading container carrier in the Pacific region.

         The company is part of the American President Companies group, which provides container transportation services in Asia, North America and the Middle East through an intermodal system combining ocean, rail and truck transportation.



APL lifts Jeddah container service