Famous Pacific starts Hong Kong/Odessa service

Famous Pacific starts Hong Kong/Odessa service    Hong Kong-based Famous Pacific Shipping said Tuesday it has started a weekly ocean freight consolidation service from Hong Kong to Odessa, Ukraine.
   The non-vessel-operating common carrier's service will allow shippers to bypass gateway ports in northern Europe, such as Hamburg, Rotterdam or Gydnia, to reach key central and eastern European destinations.
   'Many of the competing forwarders in Asia will serve central and eastern Europe through northern European gateways such as Hamburg and Rotterdam,' said Iskandar Zulkarnain, chairman of FPS Group's executive committee. 'This takes much longer, adding days to the transit time, and many of these companies also levy a high minimum charge per cubic meter to a shipment.
   'Our new service is not only quicker but we have also decided to have a lower minimum charge through Odessa, saving money for the shipper who wants to take advantage of the groupage rate, but is only sending a small consignment.'