Cai Mep Port News

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines has announced that its joint venture company Haiphong International Container Terminal held an opening ceremony for the new Haiphong International Container Terminal (HICT) at Lach Huyen Port, Vietnam on May 13. HICT is the first terminal in Northern Vietnam with a berth deep enough to allow calls by 14,000TEU containerships. It will meet customer demands for shorter transit times and lower transport costs, while contributing to economic growth in Northern Vietnam, including Haiphong industrial park, since large-size container vessels, which offer direct links to Asia and North America/Europe, can call at the port.

ZIM is pleased to announce that starting November 2017, ZIM’s popular Seven Stars Express Service (Z7S) will add a call in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, offering unique advantages to customers, said a company press release. The service includes: Direct access to New York Maher terminal, Unique product linking Kaohsiung and Wilmington, NC, Fast transit time from Wilmington and Savannah; A premium product for USA exports to Taiwan, Calling Terminal 5, Pier 77/78 in Kaohsiung, for easy access from main manufacturing areas and End of the week departure from Kaohsiung. The first vessel to call Kaohsiung on the new rotation is Zim Ontario on Nov 3, 2017. ZIM Seven Stars Express Service deploys 11X5000TEU vessels operated solely by ZIM, ensuring high schedule reliability and punctuality.

CMA CGM and Ocean Three partners  announced optimization on Asia-Europe routes, which aims to reduce capacity and to improve the rates efficiency. The Ocean Three Alliance have decided to harmonize FAL2 and FAL3 in order to adapt to the current market situation between Asia and Europe. They will offer a new optimized rotation. Instead of two services FAL2 and FAL3 will be launched service FAL23, adding the ports of call in Cai Mep Deep Sea Terminal (Vietnam), Felixstowe (UK) and Chiwan (China). The route will employ 12 vessels with capacity in range 12,000-15,000 TEU. The first voyage from the new service will be made by CMA CGM La Perouse starting from Antwerp on September 28. The routes optimization was approved by the three members of the alliance – CMA CGM, CSCL and UASH.

Two Chinese shipping giants are likely to sign agreements with Cambodia's Sihanoukville Autonomous Port (SAP), paving the way for exporters to move cargo directly from Cambodia to China, Xinhua reported. Both Cosco and China Shipping are expected to sign with Sihanoukville Autonomous Port (SAP) shortly to commence direct services from Cambodia to China, a route that hitherto has been transhipped via Vietnam. Lou Kimchhun, director general of SAP, said that a rise in the kingdom's exports had drawn the attention of marine freight companies China Shipping Container Lines and China Ocean Shipping Group Company (COSCO), according to the Phnom Penh Post.

When it comes to port development, many governments now favour letting the market decide where expansion should take place, whereas most other transport infrastructure, such as roads and rail, remains centrally managed. The problem is that old habits die hard in shipping, meaning that the free market approach is sometimes a painful process, as discussed here in an excerpt from recent  Drewry Maritime Research. While some observers might argue that the Middle East has a reputation for vanity port projects – with governments building shiny new ports just because they can – the reality is that utilisation levels in many of the region’s gateways are high and new capacity is needed. However, this alone does not necessarily guarantee that the new ports will be used.

The ship APL Alexandrite became the first linehaul container vessel to call at the Saigon Port-PSA (SP-PSA) deepwater container terminal located on the Cai Mep river in Ba Ria Vung Tau Province in southern Vietnam. The 3,821 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) vessel was undertaking a trial voyage ahead of the beginning on 4 June of the industry’s first direct container shipping service linking Vietnam and the West Coast of North America. The APL Alexandrite’s historic arrival was witnessed by hundreds of well wishers at SP-PSA…