Evergreen shifts intra-Asia capacity to SE Asia

   Evergreen Line said this week it is splitting into two legs an intra-Asia service linking Japan, Taiwan, South China, and Southeast Asia that it introduced in March.
   The move is being made to tap into faster-growing trade between China and Southeast Asian nations, specifically Vietnam and Indonesia.
   The line will pull its JTS service, which has a current rotation of Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya, Osaka, Kaohsiung, Hong Kong, Haiphong, Zhangjiang, Hong Kong, Shekou, and Tokyo. In its place it has started a new service, dubbed SCH, which has a rotation of Hong Kong, Haiphong, Zhanjiang, and Hong Kong. The weekly SCH service is operated with one 1,038-TEU vessel.
   The northern leg of the former JTS service will be covered by the carrier’s existing network, the line said.
   Meanwhile, one ship released from the JTS will be deployed in Evergreen’s new TCI service between China, Taiwan, and Indonesia. That service will have a rotation of Taipei, Taichung, Kaohsiung, Hong Kong, Shekou, Jakarta, Semarang, Surabaya, and Taipei. It will be operated with three ships (two from Wan Hai and one from Evergreen) with an average capacity of 1,618 TEUs.
   Evergreen said the free trade agreement between China and the ASEAN nations has significantly boosted bilateral trade, compelling the line to dedicate more capacity between the regions.
   “Among ASEAN members, Indonesia and Vietnam gained higher trade growth with China than others,” the line said. “For the first nine months of this year, the statistics of China Customs show that the trade amount between Indonesia and China surged by 43.1 percent over the same period last year, while Vietnam’s increased by 38.6 percent. The service redeployment will meet the changing market trend to tap into the growth potential.”