Cosco to Restore Capacity on Trans-Pacific Lane

Cosco Container Lines said Tuesday it will restore capacity on its weekly North China-U.S. Southwest Express service by bringing back six 7,500-TEU vessels to replace the six current 5,500-TEU vessels.

The Chinese carrier will start adding the larger capacity vessels to the string on April 24 and phase all of them in by the end of May.

In addition, Cosco will add a port call at Ningbo into the CEN service, which it operates as part of the CKYH Alliance (Cosco, “K” Line, Yang Ming and Hanjin).

“Although we are still in a very challenging market financially, we have had many requests from both importers and exporters to restore capacity on this popular trade route and to consider adding a Ningbo call,” said a spokesman for Cosco USA.

“It should be noted however, that we are still in a precarious position as far as current freight levels and the rising cost of moving cargo,” the spokesman said.

“We are cautiously optimistic that we will see some freight growth this year and hope that freight levels can increase to the point that further capacity can return to our trans-Pacific services," he said.

 (Source: Port News)