CKYH alliance adds Shanghai/Boston link

CKYH alliance adds Shanghai/Boston link    Alliance carriers COSCO Container Lines, “K” Line, Yang Ming and Hanjin Shipping will provide a direct, weekly all-water connection between the ports of Shanghai and Boston from next month, as part of a reshuffle of their joint “AWE 2” container service.
   This will be the result of adding a weekly call at Shanghai and ending a call at Norfolk, Va. to their transpacific service.
   The first Shanghai call of the “AWE 2” service is scheduled for Dec. 19, with the ship due to arrive in Boston on Jan. 19. The service will have a revised rotation of Qingdao, Shanghai, Yantian, Hong Kong, Charleston, New York and Boston.
   The “AWE 2” service of the CKYH alliance via the Panama canal is currently the only direct transpacific link calling at the port of Boston, and will provide an all-water option to and from Shanghai for shippers in the Boston area. Other transpacific carriers serve Boston from Asia with indirect services, intermodally or by barge.
   Capt. Wei Jiafu, president and chief executive office of the COSCO group, told a meeting of the Massachusetts Alliance for Economic Development Tuesday that COSCO’s new direct shipping service between Shanghai and Boston will reduce delivery times.
   “In the first 10 months of this year, growth of containerized traffic volumes to Boston carried by COSCO has increased by 67 percent compared to the same period last year,” he said.
   Despite the ending of Norfolk calls by the “AWE 2” service, the Virginia port will continue to be served by 9 all-water container services from the Far East, according to the global liner shipping database ComPairData and the CKYH alliance's new AWE 4 service, scheduled to start next month, will include a call at Norfolk.