HANJIN TO STOP SENDING TRANSPACIFIC SHIPS TO PORTLAND

HANJIN TO STOP SENDING TRANSPACIFIC SHIPS TO PORTLAND    Hanjin Shipping’s vessels will stop calling at the Pacific Northwest port of Portland. Instead, the Korean carrier will take slots on vessels of the COSCO/”K” Line/Yang Ming alliance.
   The PNX service of Hanjin and sister company Senator Lines call at Portland, as well as at Seattle and ancouver, British Columbia.
   The cutback will reduce from three to two the number of weekly transpacific services calling at Portland, according to ComPairData, the global liner shipping database.
   “We were notified by Hanjin Shipping, one of our major container lines, that owing to the significant overcapacity in the global container business and what they characterize as a global recession, they would be shifting
their containers in Portland onto other liners and suspending their own service to Portland,” said the Port of Portland’s new executive director, Bill Wyatt.
   “This isn’t good news, but it’s also to be expected in light of the weakness in the global economy and the strength of the U.S. dollar,” he added. “Nevertheless, we’ve been assured by Hanjin executives that they hope
to return to service in this market as global economic conditions warrant.”
   The reduction of port calls is believed to be part of a wider reshuffle of transpacific port rotations and services of Hanjin, Senator, COSCO, “K” Line and Yangming. The five carriers have announced a plan to create a new
alliance.
   The carriers will eliminate Japanese port calls on certain
services, and rationalize North American port calls between services, according to industry sources.
   The COSCO/”K” Line/Yangming grouping is the only major alliance that has not announced so far a cutback in capacity this year following the transpacific trade downturn.