ZIM ISRAEL Navigation Company, Hanjin Shipping Company, Ltd. (Hanjin), Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. ('K' Line) and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL) have announced the start of a new, jointly-operated service between the U.S. East Coast and the East Coast of South America, including Kingston and other ports in the Caribbean. The new service is expected to commence with sailings in May of 2004.
"We are delighted to welcome this new service to the Kingston Container Terminal," said Rosalie Donaldson, senior vice president of International Marketing at the Port Authority of Jamaica.
"This is a valuable addition to our growing base of international shipping lines currently calling at the Port. With our ongoing programme of expansion and our new investment in security equipment, the Port is poised to move up even further from its current rating of 63rd in the world," she noted.
The new deployment will cover a range of ports on the U.S. East Coast, including New York and Miami, the ports of Kingston, Puerto Cabello, Venezuela, a range of Brazilian ports from Fortaleza to Rio Grande, as well as a direct port call on the River Plate.
Initially, the new service will start with five 1700 Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit (TEU) class vessels. There are plans to add a sixth 1700 TEU vessel to the deployment soon; adding another vessel to the string will allow the group to offer a fixed-day weekly service. Each party will contribute a minimum of one vessel to the service.
Hanjin and ZIM were previously partners in this trade lane by virtue of their participation in the Independent Carriers Alliance (ICA).
