PO Shipping adds new TP loop

   The liner carrier Hainan PO Shipping will in December start a new transpacific service connecting northern China and South Korea with California ports, the line said this week.
   That bucks the recent trend of lines pulling transpacific capacity, both to rationalize supply for the winter and to more broadly align supply with static U.S. import demand from Asia.
   PO Shipping already operates a transpacific service – its six-ship TP2 service, jointly run with TS Lines – but has also pulled two other loops this year after operating three services as recently as early July. In mid-July, it pulled its TP 1 loop, which had a rotation of Ningbo, Shanghai, Long Beach and Ningbo.
   Then in early October, the two lines pulled their TP3 service, which had a rotation of Qingdao, Ninbgo, Shanghai, Busan, Long Beach, Oakland, and Qingdao. The TP3 had only started in May.
   Both pulled services were operated with ships below 3,000 TEUs of capacity. Services using ships that size have proven vulnerable this year, evidenced by the number of services that have fallen away from the trade.
   But PO Shipping said it is “positioning itself counter to other new carriers’ recent actions and increasing market coverage.”
   “We are demonstrating our commitment to the market and our customers’ needs through further development of our transpacific footprint with this new direct service in addition to our extended reach to Thailand, Malaysia, Haiphong and Ho Chi Minh connections added this year,” said Charles Zhao, president of P O Shipping Agency (USA).
   The new AAC service it will introduce in early December will have a rotation in Asia of Qingdao, Lianyungang, Shanghai, Ningbo and Busan, connecting to Los Angeles and Oakland in California. The line didn’t specify what size vessels it will use, nor whether TS Lines will partner on the service either as a vessel operator or slot buyer.
   The two lines’ current TP2 service has a rotation of Xiamen, Hong Kong, Yantian, Ningbo, Shanghai, Busan, Long Beach, Oakland, and Xiamen. It’s operated with six ships (four from PO Shipping and two from TS Lines) with an average capacity of 3,624 TEUs, according to American Shipper affiliate ComPair Data.
   Aside from that service, PO Shipping said it operates a feeder network in China that can connect cargo from Tianjin and Dalian via transshipment to the TP2 or AAC for direct transit to Oakland, Los Angeles and the inland IPI network.