OOCL and Yang Ming plan to expand the port coverage of their joint China-Pakistan Express service and launch a new service on the trade lane.
The two carriers said they are expanding capacity on the trade lane to provide faster transit times and meet the increasing demand from the growing trade between China and the Indian subcontinent.
The two carriers will launch the new service, which OOCL calls CIX2 and Yang Ming calls CIS, on March 21.
The new service will be operated with five vessels of 2,700 20-foot equivalent units. The first vessel, Thorscape, will sail from Shanghai on March 21 on the following rotation on a round trip of 35 days:
Shanghai ,Ningbo, Kaohsiung, Shekou, Singapore, Nhava Sheva, Pipavav, Colombo, Port Kelang, Pasir Gudang, Singapore, Hong Kong and back to Shanghai.
The carriers will restructure the existing CPX service as of March 18 with a dedicated port call at Karachi in the following port rotation on a round-trip of 35 days: Shanghai, Ningbo, Shekou, Singapore, Karachi, Mundra, Penang, Singapore, Hong Kong, Kaohsiung and back to Shanghai.
The service is currently operated with five vessels with capacities in the range of 3,500 to 4,000 TEUs on the following rotation: Shanghai, Ningbo , Shekou, Singapore, Karachi, Pipavav, Nhava Sheva, Penang, Port Kelang, Singapore, Hong Kong and back to Shanghai.
The Journal of Commerce Online