The British periodical, Lloyd’s List, suggests the reason for the company ceasing operations and going into liquidation was that four new ships were about to be delivered. USL’s CEO and president, Ed Aldridge, said his company had “absolutely no forewarning of Great Western’s sudden decision.” The third member of the Alliance is Maruba Shipping with headquarters in Argentina.
As a partner in the Americas Alliance, Great Western had weekly fixed day service between Hong Kong, Shekou, Shanghai, Los Angeles, Port Everglades and Savannah. In mid-2005, the Alliance had announced upgrades to its Transpacific service, with more tonnage for the joint service and greater plans for expansion in 2006.
USL emphasizes its intention to continue providing a quality service to meet its customer’s needs. “USL had already been working on plans to operate independently,” it notes, “as the Americas Alliance was scheduled to terminate at the end of February in any case, and will shortly announce its new 2006 network to the trade.”
