TNWA to start direct Vietnam to N Europe service in January

THE New World Alliance (TNWA) that groups together container shipping lines APL, Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) and Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) has announced the launch of what will be its first direct Vietnam to North Europe service in January, 2011.

The new route is being created by adding a port of call in Vietnam to the Alliance partners' JEX service. The first vessel to be deployed on the service, the MOL Precision, is expected to call at Cai Mep in South Vietnam on January 15 after departing from Kobe on January 4, a statement from APL said.

With the addition of Cai Mep, TNWA carriers said, "Customers can be confident that their cargo will be moved quickly and economically, without concern for feeder misconnections."

The new direct line-haul service will link Vietnam with the European ports of Rotterdam, Hamburg and Le Havre. It will also provide direct connections from major Japanese and Chinese ports to Vietnam.

The port rotation is: Kobe (Mon/Tue), Nagoya (Wed/Thu), Shimizu (Thu/Thu), Tokyo (Fri/Sat), Hong Kong (Tue/Wed), Yantian (Wed/Thu), Cai Mep (Sat/Sat), Singapore (Mon/Tue), Rotterdam (Sat/Mon), Hamburg (Tue/Wed), Le Havre (Thu/Sat), Jeddah (Wed/Thu), Singapore (Sat/Sun), Yantian (Wed/Thu), Hong Kong (Thu/ Fri), returning to Kobe (Mon).

The scheduled transit time from Tokyo to Cai Mep is seven days, and 21 days from Cai Mep to Rotterdam.
(Source:www.schednet.com)