Pacific International Lines (PIL) and Wan Hai Lines will launch a new Far East to the Black Sea container shipping service at the end of November.

Initially, four vessels of about 2,800 TEU will be deployed to provide the fortnightly service, and by mid-February 2008 the service will be weekly. PIL will provide four vessels and Wai Hai, three.

The port rotation will be: Shanghai, Ningbo, Shekou, Singapore, Port Said, Istanbul, Constanza, Illichevsk, Jeddah, Singapore, Shanghai.

The new Far East-Black Sea service will offer a transit time of 19 days from Shanghai to Port Said and 22 days to Istanbul. With the Black Sea service, both PIL and Wan Hai will be able to leverage their existing networks covering Asia, Europe and the US to provide comprehensive services, a statement said.