CHINA SHIPPING TO ENTER PACIFIC MID-NOVEMBER

   China Shipping Group, the expansion-driven Chinese carrier, will launch a new transpacific container service mid-November.
    The service will call weekly at Xiamen, Yantian, Hong Kong, Kobe, Los Angeles, Seattle, Yokohama, Kobe, Xiamen and Yantian again.
    The service will commence with the sailing of the Trade Apollo from Xiamen on Nov. 18, due to arrive in Los Angeles on Dec. 5.
Westbound, the service will start from Los Angeles on Dec. 6.
    Six ships of about 2,200-TEU capacity will be employed, adding some 120,000 TEUs a year in ship capacity in each direction.
    China Shipping (North America) Agency Inc., a joint venture of Norton Lilly International and China Shipping Group, will act as agent for the Pacific service.
    The move into the Pacific by China Shipping Group follows those of Lykes Lines, Norasia, CMA CGM, Mediterranean Shipping Co., Great Western Steamship and Trans-Pacific Lines, six other containership operators that have entered the Pacific trade since the beginning of the year.
    The Shanghai-based carrier, which had planned to enter the Pacific in September, burst into the liner trades earlier this year, when it entered the Asia/Australia, Asia/northern Europe and Asia/Mediterranean trades in rapid succession.
    Details and transit times of the new transpacific service of China Shipping Group are posted on the ComPairData global shipping database at https://www.compairdata.com.