Prince Rupert adds two more services

Prince Rupert adds two more services    Canada’s Port of Prince Rupert is to double the number of container services calling at its Fairview Terminal to four in coming weeks.
   Shaun Stevenson, vice president of marketing and business development at the Prince Rupert Port Authority, confirmed that COSCO and Hanjin will each bring another string of ships to the small port in northern British Columbia port, where COSCO already operates two services for it and some members of the CKYH alliance.
   COSCO’s South China/U.S. Southwest Coast Express (SEA), which recently dropped a call in Oakland, has scheduled a call in Prince Rupert on May 8. The new port rotation for that services is Nansha, Hong Kong, Yantian, Xiamen, Long Beach, Prince Rupert and Nansha.
   Stevenson said that should be beneficial to exporters moving cargo through Prince Rupert. Capacity for exports on the other container services calling the port has been limited because Prince Rupert has traditionally been the first inbound call, and allocation for exports has been limited, he noted.
   'We're certainly not meeting demand at this point. We have a potential opportunity for exports, especially as we see the surge in demand for forest products into China,' he said.
   Hanjin is also adding a string that it calls the Pacific Northeast Hanjin Express (PNH) service. It will have a rotation of Ningbo, Shanghai, Busan, Prince Rupert, Seattle, Portland, Vancouver, Busan, Kwangyang and Ningbo. COSCO is designating this as the HPNW.
   COSCO will continue to operate two other services, making some revisions in the rotations:
   ' The China/U.S. Northwest Coast Express service (CPNW), which will operate in a rotation of Hong Kong, Yantian, Ningbo, Shanghai, Prince Rupert, Vancouver, Seattle, Yokohama and Hong Kong.
   ' The North China/U.S. Southwest Coast Express Service (CEN) will have a rotation of Xingang (Tianjin), Dalian, Qingdao, Prince Rupert, Long Beach, Oakland, Yokohama and Xingang.
   Fairview has a single berth with three cranes, so one ship will be worked at a time.
   Stevenson said the port believes the terminal could even accommodate another service on its existing footprint, which the port believes could handle as many 750,000 TEUs annually.
   The port expects to complete next year the permitting phase for a $650 million project to more double the Fairview's footprint and boost capacity an additional 1.5 million TEUs.
   That expansion, said Stevenson, would move forward 'when it make commercial sense.”
   He also said there may be an opportunity to add an additional berth at the end of the north end of the terminal more expeditiously, if needed. ' Chris Dupin