FESCO, GREAT WESTERN TO MERGE TRANSPACIFIC SERVICES

FESCO, GREAT WESTERN TO MERGE TRANSPACIFIC SERVICES    Pending Federal Maritime Commission approval, Far Eastern Shipping Co. and Great Western Steamship Co. are planning to merge their two transpacific services to start later this month.
   Currently, Tequesta-based Great Western Steamship and Russia-based FESCO each provide a weekly service between Hong Kong and China in Asia and the U.S. West Coast.
   The merged service will deploy five ships averaging 1,540 TEUs with Great Western supplying three vessels and FESCO two.
   The proposed service rotation will be Los Angeles, Shanghai, Yantian, Hong Kong and Los Angeles.
   A spokesman for Great Western said this development was intended to reduce capacity for the off-peak season.