Mediterranean Shipping Transpac Services to Begin in April

Mediterranean Shipping Company, together with Maersk Line and CMA-CGM, the world’s three major shipping operators, are in the process of reorganizing their respective services between China and the US West Coast which will result in the launch of three separate joint services to be introduced in April 2008. MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company announced its new services in line with this development. The first service, which MSC has named Eagle Express, will cover Central China, South China, calling at Hong Kong, Yantian, Kaohsiung, Shanghai, Qingdao and Los Angeles.

The second service, called the New Orient Express, will cover Central and North China, calling at Dalian, Tianjin Xingang, Shanghai, Ningbo, Long Beach and Oakland. Each of these two new services will deploy five 8,000 TEU vessels with four vessels operated by Maersk Line, four vessels operated by Mediterranean Shipping Company and two vessels operated by CMA-CGM. In addition, MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company and CMA-CGM will slot charter on Maersk Line’s service which will cover ports in Korea and Japan to North America. This service will be operated by five 4,000 TEU vessels.

Named by MSC as the Sunrise, this service will call at Kwangyang, Busan, Kobe, Shimizu, Nagoya, Yokohama, Los Angeles and Oakland. This new initiative will allow MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company, Maersk Line and CMA-CGM to rationalize their existing transpacific US West Coast serviceds, while providing customers with extensive port coverage in China, Japan and Korea with excellent weekly direct connections and shorter transit times.