The Borchard Group of Companies is one of the oldest established liner shipping companies serving Europe and the Mediterranean and has been operating liner shipping services since 1933, whilst its origin as ship owners goes back to the 19th century. Borchard Lines Ltd. is a British company having a weekly container service with fixed day sailings from North Europe - Antwerp, Rotterdam and East Coast United Kingdom (Tilbury) to Greece, Cyprus, Israel, Egypt and Turkey and vice versa. In addition, they operate two inter-Mediterranean services - the first running to/from Barcelona, Marseilles, Italy, Israel and Egypt, and the second Ravenna, Venice, Cyprus and Israel - both on a weekly basis. A further service to the Bosphorus - Piraeus, Istanbul, Izmir - runs every week to/from Barcelona, Marseilles and Genoa, linking via Piraeus with all main services. In 1989 the company acquired the Gracechurch Container Line Ltd. of Liverpool, which operates a container shipping service from Liverpool, Cardiff, Dublin and Belfast to Leixoes, Piraeus, Limassol, Ashdod, Haifa, Beirut, Alexandria, Mersin and Salerno and vice versa. This service has sailings every five days. As part of the liner container shipping services the company has numerous agents, a number of its own overseas offices and specialises in through transport of containers from door to door. The majority of the containers and road transport vehicles used are fully owned by the Borchard Group of Companies. All five lines are managed with an emphasis on reliability, regularity and added value combined with a high degree of personal service. As part of the drive to excel in these goals and meet market demands, Borchard set upon a course of controlled expansion starting with the introduction of nine newbuildings, with speeds of up to 20 knots, during 2001/2002. A further six newbuildings are being introduced during 2006/2007, the first of which, the Katherine Borchard - with a nominal intake of 972 TEU and speeds of up to 18.5 knots - came into service in April 2006 and was joined by her sister vessel, the Rachel Borchard, in June 2006. By September 2006 80% of the fleet will be less than five years old. The container fleet of 20'/40'/Hicube/Open Top and Reefers now exceeds 22,000 TEU and continues to steadily increase in line with vessel capacity. In recognition of the need for defined systems, formal control and systematic monitoring of all activities associated with the service, Borchard Lines Ltd. operates a quality management system which is accredited in accordance with the standards of ISO 9001-2000. |
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