Hanjin to offer direct Vietnam/U.S. link

Hanjin to offer direct Vietnam/U.S. link    Hanjin Shipping said Monday it is starting a service linking Southeast Asia and Japan with the U.S. West Coast, the key feature of which is a direct call from the new deepwater port in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
   The new SJX (South East and Japan Express) service starts June 21 and is intended to 'target the Vietnamese and South East Asian markets, which are showing constant growth despite the global economic recession,” the Korean carrier said.
   It is the second major direct transpacific service to launch from the new port in Ho Chi Minh after the New World Alliance of APL, MOL and Hyundai announced their own service earlier this month.
   The service will be operated with six 4,000-TEU vessels (provided by Hanjin) with an initial rotation of Port Kelang, Singapore, Hong Kong, Yantian, Osaka, Tokyo, Long Beach, Oakland, Tokyo and Port Kelang. Starting July 7, the call at Ho Chi Minh City's Cai Mep deepwater terminal will be added and the Hong Kong call will be dropped.
   It should be noted that Hanjin announced plans earlier this year to develop its own dedicated terminal at Cai Mep, one of a number of independently developed terminals at the port complex some two hours from Vietnam's southern financial capital and container hub.
   Hanjin said the new service would link with a feeder service connecting Busan and Shanghai to Haiphong, northern Vietnam's largest container gateway.
   In addition, Hanjin will be dropping the Japanese calls at Osaka and Tokyo from its China American Express service to improve transit times from Shanghai and Busan to the U.S. West Coast. That service, operated with four 4,300-TEU Hanjin vessels, will now have a rotation of Shanghai, Busan, Long Beach, Oakland and Busan. ' Eric Johnson