Lykes Finishes Africa Service Fleet Upgrade

The Aug 29, 2001, introduction of the Lykes Runner completes the re-tonnaging of Lykes Lines' North America-Africa Service, East Coast Loop.

The multi-purpose Astrakan Mark 3 ro-ro ship joins four sister ships already on the service, operating every two weeks between Canada, the United States, and South Africa. They all can carry breakbulk, bulk, and container traffic, including refrigerated cargo, as well as automobiles, trucks, and other rolling stock.

“With the introduction of the Lykes Raider in June and the Lykes Runner, we now have five identical ships, making scheduling of traffic easier,” says Morten Veflingstad, vice-president — commercial, multi-purpose services.

The other three ships on this service are the Lykes Winner, Lykes Inspirer, and Lykes Energizer.

The East Coast Loop service calls at Montreal, Philadelphia, Charleston, Cape Town, Durban, Cape Town, Philadelphia, and Montreal. Hamilton and Toronto are added during the Lakes season (April-December).

Lykes also offers a Gulf Loop Service between Africa and North America, again operated with multi-purpose ships. The Gulf Loop operates monthly, northbound only, calling Durban, Cape Town, Salvador, New Orleans, Houston, and Veracruz, with inducement calls at other ports in South Africa, Brazil, Venezuela, the Caribbean, and North America.