EVERGREEN STUDIES LAUNCH OF ASIA/U.S. EAST COAST LINK

EVERGREEN STUDIES LAUNCH OF ASIA/U.S. EAST COAST LINK    Evergreen Line is considering the launch of a new Asia/U.S. East Coast all-water link because of congestion problems on the West Coast.
   The Taiwanese carrier said that the service under study would complement its existing eastbound and westbound round-the-world services, which include Asia/U.S    East Coast legs.
   Evergreen’s study of the all-water U.S. East Coast service follows announcements by China Shipping Group, CMA CGM, China Ocean Shipping Co., “K” Line and Yangming that would commence weekly Asia/U.S. East Coast services via Panama in April.
   In a separate development, Evergreen is planning to rejig the “HTW” weekly service it operates between Asia and the U.S. West Coast. At present, ships in the “HTW” link call at Los Angeles, Portland and ports in Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
   The revised service would employ larger ships of 5,364-TEU and 4,211-TEU capacity, instead of units of about 3,000-TEU, and would include new ports of calls at Busan, Vancouver and Oakland.
   Details of the changes have not been made public, yet.