THE HISTORY OF

 ATLANTIC CONTAINER LINE (ACL)

Text by Dan Lorentzen Chief Engineer "Atlantic Conveyor" and Swedish Shipping Historian.

An operating company Atlantic Container line was founded in 1965 by Olaf  Wallenius,  the main cause for founding the company was to handle growing competition, as well as raising the big investments needed for the containerization of the liner traffic on the North Atlantic.

 Apart from Wallenius Lines (OW), the first partners were Swedish America Line(SAL/Brostroms), The Transatlantic Steamship Company Limited (RABT) and Holland America Line (HAL) Each of these four partners ordered a combined lo/lo-ro/ro car carrier, which were revolutionary at the time, being the first ships of that type in deep sea traffics. Between 1966-67 The Cunard Steamship Co. in England together with French Compagnie Generale Transatlantique S.A. joined the consortium ACL. The ownership was divided into five shares, each being 20% where SAL and Transatlantic divided one share between them.

The original ACL Logo pictured at Gladstone Container Terminal in 1969

As two more shipping companies joined the consortium an additional six ships were ordered in 1969-70. These six were steam turbine-powered, somewhat longer and considerably faster than the first four. The business activity started as ACL’s first ship Transatlantics’s  “ATLANTIC SPAN” -was loaded for the first time in Gothenburg on 4 September 1967. The three other ships: SAL’s “ATLANTIC SAGA”, Wallenius “ATLANTIC SONG” and HAL’s “ ATLANTIC STAR” were put into service in the autumn  of 1967. All of these four were to be called ships of the first generation or G1’s.

In the mid-seventies business had expanded to full scale. ACL had ten ships operating on three routes between Scandinavia/the Continent/UK and Canada/US. North East coast with ACL Terminals in every port. Of the six steam turbine ships, delivered in 1969-70, the so called G2’s, HAL owned “ATLANTIC CROWN”, OW had “ATLANTIC CINDERELLA” under German flag, CGT owned “ATLANTIC COGNAC” & “ATLANTIC CHAMPAGNE” and Cunard owned “ATLANTIC CAUSEWAY” as well as “ATLANTIC CONVEYOR”. ACL thus did not own the ships, but hired them on a time charter  basis from the shipping companies in the consortium. The headquarters, initially located in Stockholm, was moved to Southampton in 1968.   

Competition was fierce, but ACL derived great advantages from its versatile fleet, although business often was disturbed by conflicts on the labour market during the first few years. The port workers discontent mainly evolved around rationalizations that were a result of new cargo handling techniques.

On January 1 1975 Holland America Lines cargo transportation , including their share in ACL Ltd., was taken over by Swedish America Line. SAL turned this part of HAL into a Dutch subsidiary company called Intercontinental Transport B.V. (ICT).

In 1976 the G1’s were extended by 25 meters at shipyards in Germany, Sweden and Japan.  In the same year ACL’s business expanded when taking over Care Line and it’s direct route to Montreal. In 1978 two of the ships on this route, SAL “MONT ROYAL” and OW’s  “MONTMORENCY”, were also extended and changed names to “ATLANTIC PREMIER” and “ATLANTIC PRELUDE” respectively.

To be able to offer a weekly service on the Montreal route, two of Stena Lines  ro/ro ships, which recently had been built in Korea, were time chartered under British flag and then called  “ATLANTIC PROJECT and  “ATLANTIC PROSPER” however the Montreal service closed in 1982.  

  Five new ships ordered

  After extensive investigations of system solutions for ACL’s future transports, five new combination ships were ordered for delivery in 1984  by the consortium ship owners. They also wanted to dispose of the second generation  steam turbine ship, expensive as they were because of high bunker consumption. In 1983 Brostroms sold half of  it’s Dutch subsidiary company, which later changed name to Incotrans. Due to the sale and the recent ship orders it was decided that the ownership of the G1’s was to be changed. Cunard took over “ATLANTIC STAR” CGM(CGT had changed its name to Compagnie Generale Maritime) would be the owner of “ATLANTIC SPAN” and renamed “ATLANTIC SERVICE” under French flag and Transatlantic would be joint owner of “ATLANTIC SAGA”. During this period there was also a shift of ownership within ACL , after which  Wallenius, Cunard and CGM  all received 22.22% each. Transatlantic had half of that share 11.11% and SAL/Incotrans split their share into 17.22% and 5% hence 4 ½  shares compared to the previous 5.  

In 1984 three of the new ships came into operation, namely Transocean’s Atlantic Companion and Atlantic Compass and Wallenius Lines Atlantic Concert built at Kockums in Malmo, Sweden.

In January 1985 Swan Hunter in Wallsend U.K. delivered Atlantic Conveyor to Cunard and much later than scheduled, the France-Gironde shipyard in Dunkirk delivered Atlantic Cartier to CGM in May 1985. After these deliveries the G2’s were sold for scrapping, Cunard’s first Atlantic Conveyor was lost during the Falklands Conflict in 1982. 

A Royal Navy Harrier landing on the forward section of "Atlantic Conveyor" 

A view from the accommodation of "Atlantic Conveyor" 

after loading the aircraft at Ascension Island, April 1982.

The Vessel in the background is the North Sea Ferry "Norland"

photographs by Chief Petty Officer Bob Gellett.

It was realized in the mid-eighties that rationalizations had to be carried through to make the line more profitable. Therefore in 1987 the new ships were extended by 42 meters. Scott Lithgow on the Clyde performed this work on the second Atlantic Conveyor while Hyundai Mipo Dockyard in Ulsan Korea, carried out the same work on the other four ships. Accompanying this was a co-operation with the German Shipping company Hapag-Lloyd  whereupon the four oldest H/L ships could be sold for scrapping. To emphasize the collaboration Atlantic Companion and Atlantic Concert changed names to Companion Express and Concert Express. Due to this alliance it was possible for ACL to maintain its service but at lower system costs.  

This slot chartering agreement  is still in existence, however the vessels returned to their previous names in 1994.

In 1992 further agreement with Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) resulted in ACL’s  withdrawal of shipping to/from the US west Coast and increased the slot charter facility on MSC vessels.  

In 1995 and 1996 the British and French ships were bought by ACL, Atlantic Conveyor and Atlantic Cartier were registered under Bahamian flag, the three other vessels remaining under Swedish registration, this meant that ACL now owned all five of the G3's, a considerable saving against the cost of chartering.

Throughout the later 1990,s ACL continued to be a profitable Shipping Company, to this end in 2001 The Italian based Ship Owner Grimaldi had purchased a majority shareholding effectively owning the Transatlantic Container Operator.

  FOCUS ON ACL

Click each thumbnail to see the full-size picture.

The first official Press Release photograph to launch Atlantic Container Line (ACL)1967

 pictured is "Atlantic Span" with a cargo of "new" freight containers

 now commonplace in the modern Shipping world.