Ocean carrier start-up The Containership Company has announced that it will expand its no-frills express transpacific service between China and the Port of Los Angeles starting next month.
The carrier said that based on repeated customer requests, the Great Dragon service will expand to include calls in Qingdao, China. The first sailing from Qingdao will be Nov. 15 with a 14-day transit time to Los Angeles using the 2,900-TEU Shenzhen Dragon. The first sailing from Los Angeles will be Oct. 25.
The Great Dragon service started in April and has been promoted by TCC as a new shipping industry model akin to that used by budget airlines like JetBlue. When first launched in April, the Great Dragon service included stops at two ports in the Taicang International Gateway in China and the Los Angeles port's TraPac terminal. The Taicang complex, owned by Modern Terminals Ltd., is located in the major Chinese manufacturing province of Jiangsu. The service has been running with a 96 percent on-time reliability, according to the carrier.