THE Alliance begins Prince Rupert calls

All three of the major container carrier alliances now offer weekly service to the British Columbia port.    The Port of Prince Rupert said it received the first ship to call the port in the weekly Pacific Southwest Loop 8-PS8 transpacific service of THE Alliance.
   This is the fourth weekly container service to the port, according to BlueWater Reporting. The Ocean Alliance and PIL operate two container services to the port, the Bohai-CEN service and the Manhattan Bridge Twin Peaks Pendulum-MTX/AWE2 service, while .2M offers the TP9-Maple service.
   Yang Ming’s ship, YM Masculinity, called Prince Rupert on Saturday.
   The other members of THE Alliance are Hapag-Lloyd and Ocean Network Express, the joint container shipping venture of NYK, MOL and “K” Line.
   BlueWater Reporting said Yang Ming will supply six ships for the service with capacity ranging from 4,250 TEUs to 6,589 TEUs. The ships operate in the following rotation: Prince Rupert, Los Angeles, Tacoma, Busan, Kwangyang, Xingang, Qingdao, Shanghai, Busan, Prince Rupert.
    “The addition of THE Alliance to Prince Rupert’s containerized cargo services expands the reach of Asia-North American trade through our port to new markets and shippers,” said Shaun Stevenson, vice president of trade development and public affairs for the Port of Prince Rupert. “With expanded capacity to accommodate 1.35 million TEUs, we’re confident this new partnership will strengthen the supply chain solutions offered through the west coast’s leading-edge gateway.”
    In 2017 the Port of Prince Ruprt handled 926,540 TEUs of containerzed cargo, 26 percent more than in 2016.
   Hapag-Lloyd said there was “strong interest from the market for the first eastbound sailing, including many containers with furniture, machine parts and computers. In Prince Rupert, the ship primarily will be loaded with forest products and agricultural goods for various Asian markets.