Evergreen begins calling Busan New Container Terminal

Taiwanese ocean carrier Evergreen Line has joined the Ocean 3 Alliance’s Phoenician Express Service/BEX2 loop between the Far East and the Mediterranean.    Evergreen said its ships began calling the highly automated Busan New Container Port (BNCT) in Korea April 5.
   The maiden call was made by Ever Utile, one of two 5,600-TEU ships that Evergreen has deployed on the Phoenician Express Service, or BEX2 as Evergreen calls it, between the Far East and Mediterranean. That service is offered together with members of the Ocean 3 Alliance — CMA CGM, CSCL (now COSCOCS), and UASC.
   The BEX2 operated with 10 ships, five from CSCL, two each from Evergreen and CMA CGM, and one from UASC, with an average capacity of 5,762 TEUs, according to ocean carrier schedule and capacity database BlueWater Reporting. The loop offers weekly service with a port rotation of Shanghai, Ningbo, Busan, Chiwan, Tanjung Pelepas, Port Klang, Suez Canal, Koper, Trieste, Rijeka, Venice, Koper, Marsaxlokk, Suez Canal, Jeddah, Port Klang, Tanjung Pelepas, Nansha and Shanghai.
   BNCT’s expansion last year included 700,000 TEUs of new capacity and a 16,000-TEU empty storage area for a new total handling capacity of 2.5 million TEUs with further expansion possible up to 3.5 million TEUs in the future.