TNWA Offers Direct Vietnam-to-North Europe Service

The New World Alliance (TNWA), which includes Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL), APL, and Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM), will introduce a direct Vietnam-to-North Europe service for the first time next month.

Alliance partners said today they will create the new route by adding a Vietnam call to their “JEX” service. The first vessel in the service is expected to call at the Cai Mep in South Vietnam in mid-January.

With the addition of Cai Mep, TNWA will be able to offer its customers a direct line-haul service from the emerging Vietnam market to North Europe. Customers can be confident that their cargo will be moved quickly and economically, without concern for feeder misconnections.

The service will link Vietnam with the European ports of Rotterdam, Hamburg and Le Havre. It will also provide direct connection from major Japanese and Chinese ports to Vietnam, where further trade growth is expected.

Tan Cang – Cai Mep International Terminal Co., Ltd (TCIT)
“JEX” service will call at TCIT where MOL takes part in its operation as an investor. TCIT, with 14 metres depth of water, is able to handle up to around 10,000TEU type ships. It is also an eco-friendly container terminal equipped with full electric driven cranes both at the quay side and at the container yard.

New “JEX”
– Port Rotation:
Kobe (Mon/Tue) – Nagoya (Wed/Thu) – Shimizu (Thu/Thu) – Tokyo (Fri/Sat) –
Hong Kong (Tue/Wed) – Yantian (Wed/Thu) – Cai Mep (Sat/Sat) – Singapore (Mon/Tue) – Rotterdam (Sat/Mon) – Hamburg (Tue/Wed) – Le Havre (Thu/Sat) –
Tangier (Tue/Tue) – Jeddah (Wed/Thu) – Singapore (Sat/Sun) – Yantian (Wed/Thu) –
Hong Kong (Thu/ Fri) – Kobe (Mon)

– Transit Times:
• Tokyo to Cai Mep – 7 days
• Cai Mep to Rotterdam – 21 days

– First voyage:
“MOL Precision”
Departing Kobe on Jan 4th, 2011, departing Cai Mep on Jan 15th, 2011

Improvements on MOL’s Asia – West Africa Network
Concurrently with the above change, the westbound Tangier call will be transferred from “JEX” service to “SCX” service. This transfer will enable MOL to offer improved transit times from China to West Africa.

– “SCX” New Port rotation:
Ningbo (Sat/Sun) – Shanghai (Sun/Mon) – Xiamen (Wed/Thu) – Hong Kong (Fri/Sat) – Chiwan (Sat/Sat) – Singapore (Wed/Thu) – Colombo (Mon/Tue) –Tangier (Sun/Sun) – Southampton (Wed/Fri) – Hamburg (Sat/Mon) – Rotterdam (Mon/Wed) – Singapore (Fri/Sun) – Hong Kong (Wed/Thu) – Ningbo (Sat)

– Transit Times:
• Ningbo to Tema – 38 days
• Shanghai to Tema – 37 days
• Xiamen to Tema – 34 days
• Chiwan to Tema – 32 days

– First Voyage:
“APL Zeebrugge”
Departing Ningbo on Jan 2nd 2011, arriving at Tangier on Jan 30th
Connected to “ARN”/“ARS” service – “MOL Volta” at Tangier on Jan 31st