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In response to growing cargo volumes, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (‘K’ Line) in April plans to add a sixth weekly trip to the Asia-Europe route it operates with three Asian maritime shipping firms, reported Nikkei.
The Japanese company is part of CKYH alliance that includes China's Cosco Shipping, Taiwan's Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp and South Korea's Hanjin Shipping.
Next month, the alliance will open a new route with sailings from Korea's Busan, as well as from Shanghai and Hong Kong to European ports such as Hamburg and Rotterdam and back to Asia.
The new route will not include Japan, so cargo shipments between Japan and Europe will utilise other Kawasaki Kisen routes from Shanghai and Taiwan.
The plan is to use 10 large container ships, each with a capacity of 8,000 TEUs or more, on the new route. The addition will return the alliance to six sailings per week between Asia and Europe for the first time since the Lehman shock of 2008, but back then 5,000-TEU ships were used. Of the five weekly sailings at present, four use 8,000 TEU class vessels.
Cargo shipments from China and other parts of Asia to Europe are expected to grow by around seven percent from last year.
Cargonews Asia
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