March 15, 1977 - Maritime Reporter and Engineering News

Lykes To Use Barges From French Port For New Service To Arabia

Officials of Lykes Bros. Steamship Co., Inc. have revealed the establishment of a new service linking U.S. Gulf, South Atlantic and Great Lakes ports with Saudi Arabia.

Lykes has concluded a connecting carrier agreement with the EAST Line (Euro Arab Sea Trailers) that will provide at least two and possibly three sailings monthly by Lykes ships to the French port of Fos, near Marseilles, where the Saudi Arabian cargo will be transshipped to seagoing barges of EAST on a through bill of lading.

EAST operates its own terminal at Fos, where the containers arriving on Lykes ships are discharged to truck chassis and then loaded aboard the huge new EAST barges. EAST provides sailings from Fos every 10 days, bound for the Saudi Arabian port of Yanbu.

At Yanbu, EAST operates its own container yard. Promptly after arrival, the cargo is cleared by customs, hooked up to tractors, and within seven days is delivered to such major points as Jeddah, Mecca, Riyadh, Dammam, and numerous other interior points throughout Saudi Arabia.

The EAST facilities at Yanbu are operated exclusively for movement of EAST cargoes, thus avoiding delays found at many other points of discharge in Saudi Arabia. The roll-on operation at Fos and the roll-off discharge at Yanbu assures prompt dispatch of cargoes.

The triple-deck EAST barges are 400 feet long and 105 feet wide. Maximum capacity will be 266 forty-foot trailers, which can be discharged in less than eight hours. The barges will be towed by 10,000-horsepower tugs.

The EAST operation is a new venture jointly owned by Global Transport Organization of San Francisco, Calif., and Compagnie Maritime Beige of Antwerp. Partners in the Global Transport Organization include the Crowley Maritime Corporation, San Francisco ; Federal Pacific, Ltd., and Seaspan Overseas, Ltd., both Canadian firms with extensive shipping interests.

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