MISC, OOCL LAUNCH JOINT EUROPE SERVICE

MISC, OOCL LAUNCH JOINT EUROPE SERVICE    Malaysia International Shipping Corp. and Orient Overseas Container Line said Monday they will introduce a fixed-day, weekly coordinated service between European ports, starting Sept. 2.
   The lines will exchange slots on the new Iberia Scan Express Service (ISX), which will use two 736-TEU MISC vessels and one 600-TEU ship from OOCL.
   “We will be able to offer quicker transit times on cargoes connecting with our deep-sea services to and from Asia and North America,” said Ted Wang, managing director, OOCL (Europe) Ltd. in London.
   The service will start Sept. 2 with a northbound sailing from Lisbon, and the first southbound sailing will depart Gdansk on Sept. 5. Port rotation will be Gdansk, Gothenburg, Aarhus, Hamburg, Rotterdam, Southampton, Le Verdon (Bordeaux), Bilbao, Leixoes/Oporto, Lisbon, Bilbao, Le Verdon, Southamption, Antwerp and Gdansk.
   Under the cooperation, MISCL will also have slots on OOCL's Scan Baltic Express. The SBX services uses two 860-TEU OOCL ships which call Antwerp, Thamesport, Hamburg, Gdansk, Hamina, St. Petersburg, Riga, Hamburg and Antwerp.