FESCO TERMINATES TRANSPACIFIC SERVICE

FESCO TERMINATES TRANSPACIFIC SERVICE    Far Eastern Shipping Co., the Russian shipping line commonly known as FESCO, will terminate its transpacific service next month.
   FESCO has provided a weekly service, operating jointly with Great Western, with calls at Los Angeles, Shanghai, Yantian, Hong Kong and Los Angeles.
   An official of FESCO Hong Kong said the service was unprofitable, and “there are just too many competitors.”
   FESCO continues its North America/Australia/New Zealand and Asia/Australia/New Zealand services.
   Last month, FESCO said it was ending its direct monthly service between Seattle and Vladivostok, Russia, and replaced it with a slot charter-based transshipment service.
   FESCO’s withdrawal from the main transpacific container trade follows sharp decreases in freight rates in the market, as transpacific trade volumes have remained sluggish and the capacity deployed by other carriers has increased.