Prince Rupert gains two extra Cosco, Hanjin box services

THE British Columbia port of Prince Rupert in Canada has attracted two new container shipping services to be provided separately by Cosco and Hanjin Shipping. The ships deployed on these services will call at the port`s Fairview Terminal in the coming weeks.

This development comes as Cosco`s South China-US Southwest Coast Express (SEA) service has added Prince Rupert to its port rotation after removing a call in Oakland. The first ship is expected to call at the small port on May 8. The new port rotation for the SEA service is: Guangzhou-Nansha, Hong Kong, Shenzhen-Yantian, Xiamen, Long Beach, Prince Rupert, returning to Nansha, reports American Shipper.


It said two Cosco`s services that the ocean liner operates with some members of the CKYH Alliance already call at Prince Rupert, and will continue to do so albeit some changes to port rotations.


"We`re certainly not meeting demand at this point," Shaun Stevenson, vice president of marketing and business development at the Prince Rupert port authority was quoted as saying. "We have a potential opportunity for exports, especially as we see the surge in demand for forest products into China," he said.


Hanjin Shipping`s new string, the Pacific Northeast Hanjin Express (PNH) service, will also call at the small northern British Columbia port on the following port rotation of Ningbo, Shanghai, Busan, Prince Rupert, Seattle, Portland, Vancouver, Busan, Kwangyang and back to Ningbo. The report said Cosco is "designating this as the HPNW."


It said Cosco`s two other services that already call at the port will see some alterations to their port rotations. The China-US Northwest Coast Express (CPNW) service will call in: Hong Kong, Shenzhen-Yantian, Ningbo, Shanghai, Prince Rupert, Vancouver, Seattle, Yokohama and Hong Kong.


The revised port rotation for the carrier`s North China-US Southwest Coast Express (CEN) service will be: Xingang (Tianjin), Dalian, Qingdao, Prince Rupert, Long Beach, Oakland, Yokohama, returning to Xingang.


According to Mr Stevenson the Fairview Terminal could accommodate another service seeing as port authorities estimate it could handle up to 750,000 TEU annually.