Sinokor Merchant Marine and its subsidiary Heung-A Line have extended their China – West India service to South Korea, in line with the South Korean government’s call to provide more capacity to South Korean shippers.
[s2If is_user_logged_in()]The South Korean carriers, which market the service as SIS2, operate the route with UAE-based carriers Global Feeder Shipping (GFS) and Sea Lead Shipping. The latter carriers had initiated the original China-West India service in September 2020, marketing it as CSC.
In December 2020, Heung-A Line joined the service, deploying one ship, while Sinokor purchased slots. In the same month, the South Korean government asked local liner operators to add more capacity on intra-Asia services, besides Transpacific and Asia-Europe routes.
Rising Transpacific rates have caused a shortage of containers, as the lack of backhaul cargoes from North America has slowed the return of empty boxes to Asia, creating a ripple effect on other trade lanes.
From 8 April 2021, the SIS2/CSC loop, will add two Korean ports and a call at Karachi in Pakistan, with the new rotation of, Busan, Gwangyang, Shanghai, Ningbo-Zhoushan, Shekou, Port Klang, Nhava Sheva, Mundra, Karachi, Port Klang and Busan.
The voyage turnaround will be extended from five to six weeks, with six vessels ranging from 2,800TEU to 5,000TEU.
The extended loop will begin with Sinokor’s owned ship, the 4,800TEU Sino Bridge. Heung-A Line and Sea Lead will deploy one ship each and GFS will contribute two. The sixth vessel is yet to be confirmed.
Martina Li
Asia Correspondent
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