Singapore's Pacific International Lines (PIL) is opening a new transpacific trade with a fixed-day weekly container service linking the Far East to the US west coast, to be operated jointly with Wan Hai Lines (WHL) that will commence March 17 with five 2,500-TEU ships.

The service itself is not new as WHL has been providing it since mid-2001. PIL will be contributing one ship to the joint service, and will operate it with a round voyage of 35 days on the following port rotation: Xiamen, Yantian, Hong Kong, Kaohsiung, Long Beach, Oakland and back to Xiamen.

PIL will also incorporate a subsidiary company in the United States, and has also appointed Norton Lilly as a US agent.

Founded in 1967, PIL has grown from modest beginnings as a coastal ship-operator to become one of the larger shipowners and operators in Asia, now ranking 19th among the top containership operators in the world.

With more than 100 owned and operated container vessels, PIL operates regular container liner services between the Far East, Africa, the Middle East Gulf/Red Sea, and the Indian Sub-Continent. It also operates services from the Far East to Canada, Europe, East Coast South America and Australia/New Zealand.