Hapag-Lloyd’s 7,000TEU Hudson Express has made its inaugural call to the Jacksonville Port Authority (JAXPORT) as part of the Atlantic Loop 3 (AL3) container service which links Europe and the United States.

With this addition, AL3 service is now calling on Antwerp, Hamburg, London, Charleston, Jacksonville and Norfolk.

The German shipping line has decided that AL3 will call JAXPORT’s TraPac Container Terminal at Dames Point for at least the next eight weeks to avoid US congestion, while Jacksonville’s port disposes of an efficient capacity space.

This entails that over the next two months, the temporary addition of the service that JAXPORT first announced in October, will bring an estimated additional throughput of 8,000TEU through the port of Florida.

With no vessels waiting at anchorage and two-way ship traffic to and from berths, Hudson Express was able to berth and begin working immediately upon its arrival in Jacksonville.