Grand Alliance announces new direct Vietnam (Cai Mep) call for USWC

Grand Alliance partners Hapag-Lloyd (HL), Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) and Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) announced today they will add a direct Vietnam call at Cai Mep deepwater port to their South China Sea Japan Express (SCX) service, from May 2010. This additional link is a further improvement of the Grand Alliance service network.

Port rotation of the SCX will be as follows:

Cai Mep/ Laem Chabang/ Singapore/ Kobe/ Nagoya/ Tokyo/ Sendai/ Los Angeles/ Oakland/ Tokyo/ Nagoya/ Kobe/ Kaohsiung/ Shekou/ Cai Mep.

GA partners will deploy 8 x 6,000 TEU vessels on the SCX service (currently served by 7 x 6,000 TEU vessels).

The Grand Alliance, formed in 1998, is the leading integrated consortium in global container shipping. Its members are presently Hapag-Lloyd (Germany), NYK (Japan), and OOCL (Hong Kong).