Construction Begins On Atlantic Container Line's "First Of Its Kind" G4 RORO/Container Ships

WESTFIELD, N.J., Sept. 20, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The official steel cutting ceremony took place this week in Shanghai for Atlantic Container Line's five, G4 (Generation 4) RORO/Containerships, marking the start of actual construction. Since signing a contract with ACL in July 2012 for the construction of these vessels, Hudong Zhonghua Shipbuilding (HZS) has been busy with the detailed design work and tank testing. ACL's President & CEO, Andrew J. Abbott and Henrik Karle, (Vice‐President of Marine Operations) participated in the event together with Grimaldi Group's, Paolo Satariano (Grimaldi Corporate Technical Director) and Pierluigi Marmo (Grimaldi Group New Buildings Project Manager) at Hudong Zhonghua's new ship construction facility on Chungxing Island near Shanghai. "We are excited to celebrate this milestone for our first G4 CONRO (Container/Roll-on Roll-off). After five years of planning, this is the first step of the construction. ACL and our Parent Company, the Grimaldi Group of Naples, Italy, look forward to the progress in the upcoming months," said Andrew J. Abbott. "We are most happy that construction of our ships will take place at Hudong Zhonghua's newest shipyard, where they employ the latest technology." ACL has appointed Registro Italiano Navale (RINA Services S.p.A.) and the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) to provide statutory classification services for the G4 ship construction which provides periodic survey activities, certification, testing and inspection during the vessel's assembly. ABS will also be the site manager, overseeing construction activities and ensuring quality control on behalf of ACL. ACL's new G4 vessels will be the first of their type ever built. They will be bigger, faster, greener and more efficient than their predecessors. They will have a container capacity of 3800 TEUs plus 28,900 square meters of RORO space, with a car capacity of 1,307 vehicles. Speed will be increased by 10%, yet fuel consumption per TEU will be reduced by 50%. All five vessels will be delivered in 2015, with the first to be delivered at the end of January 2015. For photos and more information about the progress of ACL's G4 vessel, please visit Atlantic Container Line's website at http://www.aclcargo.com.

ABOUT ACL: Since 1967, ACL has been a specialized transatlantic carrier of containers, project and oversized cargo, heavy equipment and vehicles with the world's largest combination RORO/Containerships. Headquartered in Westfield, New Jersey, ACL has offices throughout Europe and North America. ACL provides five transatlantic sailings each week and also markets the Grimaldi Lines' direct RORO/Container service between the U.S. and West Africa. The Company also offers service for non‐containerizable cargo from North America to the Mediterranean, Middle East, South Africa, Australia and Asia. ACL is a Grimaldi Group Company.

Contact: Renee Sisk, +1-908-518-5350

SOURCE Atlantic Container Line