Tuesday, June 1, 2010

SoCal Ports Pick Up Three New Services

The two Southern California ports, after suffering through 2009, have seen trade numbers increase in the first part of this year. Also increasing are the number of new services being announced.

Asian ocean carriers Evergreen Line and China Shipping Container Lines have teamed up to start a Los Angeles/Oakland to China service to be called the China/South US West Coast Service 2, or CPS2.

The service will utilize five 4,000-TEU vessels on a 35-day rotation that runs Oakland, Los Angeles, Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo and Oakland. The maiden call of the service to Oakland is expected to be June 13.

The New World Alliance – composed of members APL, Hyundai, and MOL – are also launching a new weekly transpac service stringing together the ports of Los Angeles and Oakland with Japanese and Chinese ports. To be called the Pacific Southwest 5, the new service will utilize five 4,700-TEU vessels on a rotation that will call at Shanghai, Busan, LA, Oakland, Yokohama, back to Busan, and Shanghai. Los Angeles is expected to see its first vessel of the new service on June 7.

Across the harbor, the Port of Long Beach's California United Terminal is expected to see the arrival of a new Hyundai service from north and south Asia this weekend. The new Pacific Southwest service plans to utilize five 4,000-TEU vessels. The service rotation will be Kaohsiung, Xiamen, Hong Kong, Yantian, Busan, Long Beach, Oakland, Busan, and Hong Kong.