The CKYH alliance of ocean carries has picked the Port of Charleston for a new, weekly container service with coverage across Northeast Asia.
The AWE-6 is a new service offering for the carrier group, which includes COSCO, K-Line, Yang Ming and Hanjin. Charleston is the last U.S. port call on the service, providing South Carolina exporters additional options to reach markets in Asia, which have demonstrated increasing demand for products from the U.S. Southeast.
“Exporters from this area are finding additional trade opportunities in Asia, and we have been heavily marketing the Port of Charleston for more shipping services in that trade lane,” said Jim Newsome, president and CEO of the South Carolina Ports Authority , which owns and operates the Port of Charleston. “Our state not only has goods that are attractive to overseas markets, but we are also ideally positioned to serve a broad import base across several states in the region.”
Shippers will be able to take advantage of direct trade routes to Yantian, Ningbo and Shanghai in China as well as Pusan, South Korea via the Panama Canal.
The carriers will deploy nine ships for the service, which will add 52 ship calls a year at North Charleston Terminal. The first Charleston call is expected around June 19.
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Source: Port of Charleston, May 3, 2012