The Port of Long Beach kicked off a new transpacific service on Tuesday with ceremonies welcoming Grand China Shipping as the port's newest container carrier.
The ceremonies focused around the inaugural call of the first of five 2,700-TEU vessels that will call weekly as part of GCS's new Super Pacific Express service. The SPX service will call at the port's Total Terminals International facility on Pier T.
The Red Strength and the other four ships in the SPX service are expected to import about 140,000 TEUs through the port by the end of 2011.
This is the first major expansion out of the intra-Asia trade for the four-year-old start-up carrier. The SPX route includes the Chinese ports of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Ningbo and Shanghai, and then to Long Beach. Intermodal connections to key Midwest hubs such as Chicago, Dallas, Houston and Kansas City are also available.
GCS-parent Grand China Logistics Holding Group plans on a rapid and aggressive transpacific expansion, with a second service from additional Chinese cities to Long Beach set to launch next month.
"It is a vote of confidence that global trade is rebounding, and that the Port of Long Beach is the preferred route to reach US markets," Board of Harbor Commissioners Vice President Susan E. Anderson Wise told those gathered for a luncheon on Pier T to celebrate the event.
"We believe in fate," GCL Holding Group Chairman Jia Hongxiang said. "And we are going to have a very bright future together."
Grand China Shipping operates a fleet of 23 container ships with a total capacity of 37,000 TEUs and is, according to the carrier, ranked 33rd among the world's biggest container lines.