CNC Line expands intra-Asia services

TAIWAN's CNC Line, now owned by CMA CGM, has embarked on a major service expansion programme covering the intra-Asia trade, by launching four new services in the last month.

These services will be operated in addition to the NIX, NCC and TMJ services covering the China/India trade, and the Thailand/Malaysia/Java trade.

"We have suspended most of the unprofitable swap arrangements we had and started in return our own dedicated services which have expanded our network to the Indian subcontinent and very soon to the Middle East," said Igal Dafni, CNC's CEO in a company statement.

The first of the four new routes comprises a new Straits/Pakistan Express service, which the Taiwan line is jointly operating with Singapore-based common-user feeder specialist Sea Consortium.

Effective October 7, the new Straits/Pakistan Express service is deploying three vessels averaging 1,600 TEU each with CNC contributing one containership, the chartered Helen Rickmers.

The port rotation is: Singapore, Port Kelang, Colombo, Karachi, Mundra, Pipavav, returning to Singapore.

The second of the four new services, the Thailand/Malaysia Express, was launched on October 10. This new weekly service uses one vessel, the 1,100-TEU Kuo Chang, which calls at the port of Laem Chabang and Port Klang. The shipping line said a deal has been struck for Singapore-based Pendulum Express Lines to buy slots on this service.

Following the Thailand/Malaysia Express, CNC is in partnership with SITC Container Lines, completely restructuring the China 2 service and rebranding it China 3, from October 19, to cover China, Thailand and Vietnam.

Rotation for the weekly China 3 is: Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, Laem Chabang, Bangkok, Laem Chabang, Ho Chi Minh, Hong Kong, Shanghai and back to Qingdao.

Three 1,000-TEU ships are being used on the China 3 route with two provided by CNC Line, the CNC Bangkok and the CNC Hong Kong.

Effective from October 21, CNC Line has started offering the North Vietnam Express (NVX), which the line is running independently with a single charter vessel, the 440-TEU Ryoga. The port rotation for the NVX is: Haiphong, Qui Nhon, Hong Kong and Haiphong again.

Finally, by the end of the year, CNC is also planning to launch another new service, this time connecting Asia with the Middle East to break "new ground in a market that the Taiwan line under its previous ownership, has not been involved in," the statement said.

Since the change of CNC management, following its takeover by French shipping group CMA CGM earlier this year, CNC has increased its fleet of commercially operated vessels from 11 to 19. The shipping line aims to operate over 20 ships before the end of 2007, which would in effect double the capacity it had at the beginning of the year, according to Mr Dafni.

He said CNC aims to achieve an annual throughput of about 700,000 TEU by the end of the year, up from the 480,000 TEU it carried in 2006.