OOCL continues to call at Tokyo, Yokohama and Nagoya

HONG KONG`s Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) has announced it will continue to call at Tokyo, Yokohama and Nagoya despite decisions by two fellow Grand Alliance members to curtail services to these ports.

PAX and NWX services run by Hapag-Lloyd have stopped calling at Tokyo, Yokohama and Nagoya since March 16 because of fears of deteriorating nuclear plant leakage in Tokyo Bay.


But OOCL said it is offering three services, KTX 1, 2 and 3, to connect southeast Asian ports through Japan, and continues to "liaise with our alliance partners to make necessary arrangements for handling the disruption and to keep our customers informed of the ongoing services."


OOCL said it continues to accept bookings " for shipments to and from Japan continues except for the ports of Sendai, Hitachinaka and Kashima which were badly damaged by the tsunami."


"OOCL is closely monitoring the situation in Japan and radiation levels at the Ports of Tokyo, Yokohama and Nagoya. We will act upon government advice and recommendations from relevant authorities in reviewing needs to make changes to our operations, including our sailing schedules to and from Japan," the carrier said in a statement.


It said that all its vessels running through Japan will ensure safety of its crew and cargo and pay close attention to monitoring "the potential radioactive contamination of goods loaded inside some containers. So far, there has been no case of radiation contamination detected on any container onboard OOCL vessels."


It repeated that as of March 29, the radiation level at the above mentioned three Japanese ports is safe and its operations at the ports remain normal.