Yang Ming and Evergreen, Taiwan’s two largest carriers, will further strengthen their intra-Asia service portfolios.

Evergreen increased its intra-Asia port coverage during the last week of November with the inclusion of the Bohai Express III (BH3) service in the company’s regional operational network.

The new service agreement for Evergreen is in the form of a slot exchange deal with Ocean Network Express (ONE). The BH3 shuttle is operating on a weekly basis covering Tianjin and Busan, and presently deploys the 2,753 TEU Calidris to provide the service connection. For Evergreen, the first sailing of the BH3 service took place on November 27 from Tianjin.

Yang Ming is also a member line of the BH3 service, which has a port rotation of Tianjin, Busan and Tianjin. Evergreen and Sealand have also established a new slot purchase deal to cover the Malaysia trade, effective from early December, with Evergreen purchasing space on the IA12 service operated by Sealand Asia.

The IA12 service offers a full port coverage of Thilawa, Yangon, Tanjung Pelepas, Singapore, Bintulu, Muara, Cebu, Kaohsiung, Shantou, Yantian, Hong Kong, Nansha, Ho Chi Minh, Tanjung Pelepas and Thilawa. In the new Evergreen/Sealand slot deal, port coverage will be Tanjung Pelepas to Bintulu. Deployment is five 1,700/1,770 TEU vessels. The first sailing for Evergreen was on December 4 from Tanjung Pelepas by the 1,762 TEU London Trader.

Yang Ming has also strengthened its Southeast Asia service portfolio, with the launching of the Singapore/Philippines Express (SPE) in early December. The SPE service is presently operated by Pacific International Lines (PIL) and RCL Shipmanagement Pte Ltd. From the beginning of December, Yang Ming began purchasing slot space.

For Yang Ming, the service commenced with the sailing of the PIL-operated Kota Waris from Singapore on December 3. SPE service (weekly rotation) port coverage is: Singapore, Manila (North), Cebu and Singapore. Transit times include Singapore to Cebu in eight days. Deployment includes the 1,550 TEU Kota Waris from PIL and the 1,850 TEU Teera Bhum  from RCL.

By Asia Cargo News