Atlantic Container Line is an American, previously Swedish, shipping company owned by the Italian Grimaldi Group. The company operates large roll-on/roll-off (RORO) container ships between Europe and North America.
History ACL was formed in Stockholm in 1965 by Olof Wallenius who created a consortium, which consisted of four shipping companies, Wallenius Lines, Swedish America Line, the Rederi AB Transatlantic and Holland America Line, to handle both growing competition and the massive capital required in face of increasing containerization of the liner traffic on the North Atlantic. These were joined by Cunard and CGT in 1967.
In 1976 ACL took over the Care Line, its ships, Mont Royal and Montmorency, and its direct route to Montreal.
During the Falklands War the British registered and were requisitioned by the Ministry of Defence. Atlantic Conveyor sank on 25 May 1982 after being hit by two Argentine Exocet missiles. She is the only British flagged merchant ship sunk by missile.
Fleet
Current ships
The new Generation 4 ships, introduced in 2015, are faster and more fuel efficient than their predecessors. They are still ConRO, combination roll-on/roll-off (RORO) and container, ships but with the accommodation in the middle of the ship rather than at the stern as in the previous generation. + Name Built In service Tonnage Notes Atlantic Star 2015 2015- Atlantic Sail 2016 2016- Atlantic Sea 2016 2016- Atlantic Sky 2017 2017- Atlantic Sun 2017 2017-
Previous ships
+ Name Built In service Tonnage Owner Notes Atlantic Saga 1967 1967–1987 SAL Broken up 1987 Atlantic Song 1967 1967–1987 OW Broken up 1987 Atlantic SpanAtlantic Service 1967 1967-19841984-1987 Transatlantic Broken up 1987 Atlantic Star 1967 1967–1987 HAL Broken up 1987 1969 1969–1986 Cunard Broken up 1987 Atlantic Champagne 1969 1969–1985 CGT Broken up 1985 Atlantic Crown 1969 1969–1985 HAL Broken up 1985 Atlantic Cinderella 1970 1970–1985 OW Broken up 1985 Atlantic Cognac 1970 1970–1985 CGT Broken up 1985 1970 1970–1982 Cunard Sunk during Falklands War Atlantic Premier 1972 1978–1982 SAL Ex Mont Royal. Broken up 2004 Atlantic Prelude 1972 1978–1983 OW Ex Montmorency. Broken up 2005 Atlantic Project 1978 1978–1981 Stena Chartered from Stena Line Atlantic Prosper 1978 1978–1981 Stena Chartered from Stena Line, Sunk 2006 Atlantic Companion 1984 1984-2015 Transatlantic Sold for scrap to Alang, India Sep 2015 Atlantic Concert 1984 1984- 2016 Transocean Lengthened in Japan 1987. Scrapped in 2016 Atlantic Compass 1984 1984- 2016 OW Lengthened in Japan 1987. Scrapped in 2016 Atlantic Cartier 1985 1985- 2017 OW Lengthened in Japan 1987. Sold for scrap 2017 to Alang, India Atlantic Conveyor 1985 1985- 2017 Cunard Lengthened at Scott Lithgow's Clyde shipyard, Glasgow Scotland 1987. Sold for scrap 2017 to Alang, India
See also List of largest container shipping companies Grimaldi Group Ocean Network Express Nippon Yusen Kaisha American Roll-on Roll-off Carrier Messina Line
References