COSCO expects West Coast congestion, plans another PNW loop

COSCO expects West Coast congestion, plans another PNW loop    COSCO Container Lines will add another China/U.S. Pacific Northwest service in the second half of this year, saying it expects congestion problems again in California in the coming peak season.
   With the delivery of new 2,800-TEU ships scheduled in the second half of the year, COSCO will add tonnage and split its weekly China/Pacific Northwest service into two weekly loops. One will serve ports in South China and the other in East China. The total capacity of COSCO in the Asia/PNW trade will therefore rise from 3,800 TEUs to 5,400 TEUs a week, the carrier said.
   At the end of 2004, COSCO and its partners within the “CKYH” alliance also introduced a fourth Asia/U.S. East Coast all-water weekly service, called “AWE4.” COSCO said this allowed it to increase its weekly allocation on the Asia/U.S. East Coast all-water route by 1,000 TEUs a week, or 40 percent.
   China’s largest carrier has not announced intentions to add new services between Asia and the Pacific Southwest soon, although it introduced 8,000-TEU ships on this route last year.
   “We are expecting congestion (at U.S. West Coast ports) again in 2005,” said Tao Weidong, deputy general manager, America trade division at COSCO’s head office in Shanghai. The carrier believes that congestion could be worse this year than in 2004.
   “How to prepare for this, is rather difficult for carriers,” Tao said, stressing that improvements in port infrastructures and labor issues cannot be done in the short term. “That’s the reason why we try to enlarge our capacity to the PNW.”
   In another development, COSCO denied it is considering a service between Asia and the U.S. East Coast via the Suez Canal.