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Port of Wilmington welcomes new Hanjin service
POSTED: 8:41 a.m. EDT, June 22,2007
HANJIN Shipping's new North China service has started calling at North Carolina's Port of Wilmington, with the recent arrival of the 4,024-TEU Hanjin Wilmington which loaded and discharged 600 containers.
A statement from the North Carolina State Ports Authority said it was the first Hanjin vessel to call at the port in several years. Hanjin's new AWE North Loop provides weekly service to Qingdao, Ningbo and Shanghai and Busan.
On the other hand, the call inaugurated a second weekly service from the port's long-time container shipping customer, the CKYH Alliance, of which Hanjin is a member along with Coscon, "K" Line and Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp. The existing CKYH service from Wilmington to south China ports and Busan has meanwhile added larger ships to the rotation to raise the capacity.
"We've been sharing the news about the increased capacity and improved service Wilmington offers now, with customers and steamship lines all over the world," said Glenn Carlson, the authority's vice president for business and economic development. "It's beginning to pay off now."
The extra business comes after the port invested US$143 million in expanding its container terminal, which includes spending $33.2 million on four new 100-foot gauge container cranes that went into service in April.
"This news confirms that the demand for our expanded container terminal is strong," said authority CEO Thomas Eagar. "We based our decision to proceed with the expansion on careful analysis of market demands, especially the needs of many North Carolina businesses who have been using other ports." |
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