APL Cyprine first call for the G6 Alliance service

1. Escort tug Atlantic Oak straightens out APL Cyprine to pass under the A.Murray MacKay bridge.

APL Cyprine sailed today after making its first call in Halifax for the new G6 Alliance The new combination of major carriers will result in one less stop for Hapag-Lloyd's own service, but will see several new ships for H-L and APL that will be new to Halifax..
Since 1988, what was originally American President Lines, has been called APL. The ships still wear the eagle funnel of the previous company, but have adopted names from parent company NOL (Neptune Orient Line) of Singapore - most ships are named for jewels, no longer for American Presidents. Interestingly APL has a Canadian connection, going back a century with Robert Dollar, a native Scot, who lived in Canada for a time. He made his fortune in timber on the west coast and spread out into shipping. In 1925 he took over the ailing Pacific Mail Steamship Co (which named its ships after Presidents) and became a major force on the Pacific. After his death in 1932,  Dollar Lines also ran into financial difficulty, and the US government took over the company from his sons and formed American President Lines in 1938.
In 1997 APL merged with NOL, but still maintains a US flagged fleet under the APL banner.
APL Cyprine was built in 1997 by Samsung SB+HI of Geoje, South Korea, and operated as NOL Cyprine until 2000 when it was assigned to APL and now flies the US flag. It is a ship of 65,475 gross tons, but only 64,159 deadweight tonnes. Usually deadweight is a much larger number than gross, but this seems to be accounted for in the way it stows its 5200 TEUs of containers- 2544 in the holds and 2476 on deck. Usually the deck capacity is much less than the hold capacity.
Sister ships APL Pearl,  APL Agate, APL Coral and APL Belgium will also be coming to Halifax as part of the G6 service.