Container line operator WEC Lines is expanding its connections between Northern Europe, the Iberian Peninsula and the Canary Islands. As the Rotterdam-based company states, the two services NWC Portugal and NWC Canary Islands have been revised. The focus is on shorter transit times, fixed schedules and additional port calls.
New schedules and ports
The Portugal service will henceforth be operated by two company-owned container ships with a capacity of 1,000 standard containers each. The rotation lasts 14 days and includes Rotterdam, Moerdijk, Antwerp, Vigo, Leixões, Setúbal, Montoir and Thamesport. New in the schedule are Vigo and Thamesport. The ships depart Thamesport on Thursdays and reach Leixões on Fridays.
The Canary Islands service deploys three ships, each with a capacity
of 868 standard containers. In the fixed 21-day rotation, calls are made at Hamburg, Thamesport, Moerdijk, Bilbao, Vigo, Leixões, Sines, Las Palmas and Santa Cruz. Las Palmas is reached on Thursdays, Santa Cruz on Fridays. From there, there are onward connections to Puerto del Rosario and Arrecife.
Time savings in competition with road transport
With the new Hamburg call, the transport time from Leixões to Hamburg is reduced to five days. From the Canary Islands to Hamburg, the figures from WEC Lines indicate eight to nine days. From Hamburg, transports to Bilbao take six days, to Leixões nine days and to the Canary Islands twelve to thirteen days.
Compared with pure road transport over long distances, the sea link
can thus become competitive. A truck shipment from Northern Germany to Madrid takes around two to three days under normal load and while complying with driving-time regulations. For the Canary Islands, the land route is anyway no alternative, since the transport necessarily includes a sea leg. Here, plannable lead times on the water with fixed arrival days for forwarders can tip the balance toward routing more of their shipments to intermodal transport.
Miguel Martín, Branch Manager for the Canary Islands, said: "We are excited that our services meet the local demand for reliable transport and that the island businesses can reach their markets efficiently."
Planning reliability for pre- and post-carriage
The fixed arrival days are crucial for forwarders. Regular
arrivals on Thursdays and Fridays on the Canary Islands enable coordinated last-mile distribution by truck. The same applies to Thursday departures from Thamesport and Friday arrivals in Leixões, which also improve planning reliability in the allocation of truck capacity.
Connection to the Spanish hinterland
According to the company, the Canary Islands service is linked to the Spanish hinterland network. Direct connections to Barcelona, Valencia, Madrid, Zaragoza and Agoncillo in the La Rioja region are available via Bilbao. Transport from Northwestern Europe can thus be shifted by sea to Spain and from Spain continued by road.
Marc Gnurlandino, Head of Line Management at WEC Lines, emphasized: "Our commitment to improving connectivity and optimizing schedules is at the heart of our
