OOCL announced the introduction of a new service for its Intra-Asia service to cover the ports of Haikou in Hainan Province of China and the Setouchi area in Japan. OOCL is the first international carrier to provide a direct liner service to Haikou. The new service will be referred to as the Setouchi Haikou Express (SHX) service. The existing Setouchi Taiwan Express (STX) service will also be further enhanced with expanded port coverage in Japan.
The inaugural sailing of the SHX by OOCL Kyushu 042S departed Hiroshima on the July 12th, and arrived in Haikou on the 18th. The SHX service calls Hiroshima and Haikou direct with port rotations as follows:
Shibushi (Wed/Wed) - Kokura (Thu/Thu) - Hiroshima (Fri/Fri) - Hong Kong (Wed/Wed) - Haikou (Thu/Thu) - Hong Kong (Fri/Fri) - Kaohsiung (Sun/Sun) - Shibushi
The Setouchi Taiwan Express (STX) service has been expanded to cover three additional ports - Senboku, Iyomishima and Tokuyama. The first expanded service departed Kaohsiung on July 18th. New service port rotations are as follows:
Hong Kong (Tue/Tue) - Kaohsiung (Thu/Thu) - Shibushi (Sun/Sun) - Senboku (Mon/Mon) - Iyomishima (Tue/Tue) - Mizushima (Tue/Wed) - Matsuyama(Wed/Wed) - Shimonoseki (Thu/Thu) - Tokuyama (Thu/Thu) - Hososhima (Fri/Fri) - Hong Kong
"In the last few years Haikou has experienced unprecedented growth, as the main trading port in Hainan Province and a key coastal hub in China its development continues to accelerate. The development of municipal infrastructure, transportation and technology is fast paced with heavy local and foreign investments. The launch of the SHX service will facilitate our customers to tap into the market potential by providing them with a full range of logistics and transportation services," said Mr. Stephen Ng, Director of Intra-Asia Service.
"The expanded STX service links more ports in Japan with Kaohsiung and Hong Kong, which are the transhipment points to markets in Europe, the United States and Australia, and will greatly enhance the trade between these major economic zones," he added.
Mr. Ohshimo Kazutoshi, General Manager of Mazda Motor Corporation, Japan, expressed the general sentiment of customers, "MAZDA is very pleased to learn of the direct service of OOCL from Hiroshima to Haikou as it has halved the transit time of the CKD shipment from Japan to Haikou, from 12 to 6 days. It is amazing that OOCL can deploy this direct service in so short a time and it can help us a lot in achieving our goals in time efficiency and cost savings - a truly customer focused carrier."
Orient Overseas Container Line Ltd. (OOCL) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hong Kong Stock Exchange listed Orient Overseas (International) Ltd. OOCL headquartered in Hong Kong, is an international container transportation and logistics service provider. Linking Asia, Europe, North America, the Mediterranean, the Indian sub-continent, the Middle East and Australia/New Zealand, the company offers transportation services to all major east/west trading economies of the world. OOCL is one of the leading international carriers serving China, providing a full range of logistics and transportation services throughout the country. It is also an industry leader in the use of information technology and e-commerce to manage the entire cargo process. Website:www.oocl.com