Hong Kong-based intra-Asia carrier SITC Container Lines has expanded its fleet as it targets the lucrative intra-Asia market which it says will grow.
While long-haul container shipping has been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic in Europe, intra-Asia volumes have been holding up, said the carrier.
An SITC official told Container News that the company is optimistic about the intra-Asia market, with growing volumes out of Vietnam and the Belt and Road initiative resulting in increasing cargo flows. “We therefore want to have more owned ships to reduce charter costs,” said the official.
During this year SITC has taken delivery of four vessels, the 1,032TEU HF Spirit (ex-Hyundai Harmony), 2,702TEU SITC Ulsan (ex-Munk Strait) and 1,043TEU HF Wealth (ex-AS-Leona). The ships are said to have been bought for around US$12 million in total.
SITC now owns 69 ships of 100,219TEU and with chartered capacity of 27,874TEU.
In June, SITC launched a Vietnam service connecting the Tianjin with Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh and Quy Nhon ports and Malaysia’s Bintulu port. The following month, SITC began a Indonesia service linking China’s Wenzhou port with major Indonesian ports. Earlier this month, SITC and Xiamen port began a “Silk Road Shipping” express service to expedite imports from Cambodia to China.
Besides the second-hand ship acquisitions, SITC has taken delivery of five of nine newbuildings (ranging between 2,400TEU and 2,700TEU) from Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, with the latest vessel, SITC Nansha, christened on 12 August.
In 2019, SITC purchased five pre-owned vessels, the 1,032TEU SITC Danang, 1,049TEU HF Fortune, 1,049TEU HF Lucky, 1,700TEU Sunshine Bandama and 1,700 TEU Stellar Windsor. Sunshine Bandama is understood to be currently chartered to Samudera Shipping Line.
The prefix “HF” in the ship names is understood to denote “Haifeng”, SITC’s Chinese name.
Martina Li
Asia Correspondent
