Wan Hai Lines, K Line and PIL Join Forces on Transpacific

Taiwan’s shipping company Wan Hai Lines has sealed a deal with Japan’s Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (“K”Line) and Singapore’s Pacific International Lines (PIL) to jointly operate a transpacific service from Vietnam and South PRC to the U. S. Pacific South West.

The new service named CALCO-C takes effect on 21st May with seven ships of about 8,000 TEU intake.

Under the deal, Wan Hai and “K”Line are to each deploy three vessels, while PIL will operate one vessel.  The port rotation will include calls at Cai Mep, Nansha, Yantian, Xiamen and Long Beach.

Further to the above, Wan Hai will enter into a space swap arrangement with “K”Line on CALCO-B (CCB) and CALCO-E (CCE) service, and COSCO Container Lines on CEN and MD1 service.

The services coverage include North China, Central China, East China, South China and Seattle.

The move seems to be in line with Drewry’s predictions that carriers who have been left out of major alliances will have to find new partners, especially following the formation of the Ocean Alliance by CMA CGM, COSCO Container Lines, Evergreen Line and OOCL.

The OCEAN Alliance, scheduled to start next year, is expected to take over as the largest carrier Vessel Sharing Agreement (VSA) on the Transpacific with a share of just under 36%, while in Asia-North Europe it will be within five percentage points from 2M with a nominal capacity share of 31%.