About us
From Jan 1, 2000
The dawn of the new millennium

The dawn of the new millennium saw the delivery to Lloyd Triestino of three new 5652TEU "U type" container vessels, all built at Mitsubishi shipyard in Kobe. On 1 September 2000, the first of the series, LT USODIMARE (left), was launched, delivery following at the end of November. The name of the vessel derives from the 15th century Italian navigator Antoniotto Usodimare, credited with having discovered the Cape Verde Islands and the mouth of the Gambia river.

In 2001, the company took delivery of the second sister ship, LT UNICA (right), in mid-March and the third, LT UNIVERSO, at the end of May.

Each U Type vessel is 285 metres long, has a beam of 40 metres, a draft of 12.7 metres and a 25 knot service speed. All three fly the Italian flag and are among the biggest container ships of the whole Italian merchant marine.

LT UNIVERSO (left) was initially deployed in the CEM service linking China, the Mediterranean and North Europe while LT UNICA and LT USODIMARE were placed in the transpacific trades. Following the delivery to the Evergreen Group of a fleet of ten chartered C-type vessels, each able to load 8063TEU, LT UNIVERSO joined her sisters in the Pacific. The ten C-type ships, two of which were chartered by LT, now maintain the CEM schedule.

In September 2001 Lloyd Triestino's management and operating standards were approved by Det Norske Veritas as conforming to the international quality management system standard ISO 9001:2000 (right). This achievement rewards Lloyd Triestino's extensive efforts to develop a quality management system that fully reflects its commitment to customer service, continuous improvement, efficiency and cost control.

2002 - The success encountered in re-launching its transpacific services encouraged Lloyd Triestino to increase its commitment in this trade lane. In March 2002, the China-West Coast of North America service was upgraded using two separate loops to link China both with the Pacific South West (CPS) and the Pacific North West (CPN). Participation in the remaining transpacific services has been strengthened and co-operation with other major carriers has been improved.

In 2003, Lloyd Triestino made its debut on the transatlantic routes. In February it extended its participation in the NUE weekly service connecting Asia, North America and Northern Europe. This was followed in December with MUS, a direct service from the Mediterranean to the US East Coast. AUX, an LT/Zim joint express service, commenced in April, thus enabling the two lines to upgrade their connections between the Far East and the US East Coast. At the end of October, Lloyd Triestino resumed direct calls into its home port of Trieste with the launch of a new China express service (ADR). In November, LT launched a new inter Mediterranean service (IMS) based on its deepsea hub centre at Taranto, and expanded its coverage of the Adriatic, Eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea by launching, in co-operation with CMA CGM, a new direct link between China and the Black Sea (CBS service). By the end of 2003, LT was able to offer its customers access to a total of 19 container services.

(FORWARDS) is the motto on which the Company was founded way back in 1836. This same motto very much reflected the spirit of the 'new' Lloyd Triestino: a Company that at the beginning of the 21st Century, was looking forward to continuing its growth, dominating the seas and providing an unparalleled service to its customers for centuries to come.

In April 2004 the Company's services were further enhanced with the launching of a direct service linking North Europe and Canada The scope of the Company's inter Mediterranean services was increased between April 2005 and May 2006 with three new direct connections between the hub port of Taranto and Greece and Turkey (April 2005), Tunis and Malta (October 2005), and Algiers (May 2006). In April 2005 LT joined EMC and Cosco in the Far East to South Africa and East Coast of South America service (ESA).