YICT welcomes eight new international shipping services in the month of July. These new services, to be operated by New World Alliance, Maersk Sealand, Hanjin, Norasia and Hamburg Sud respectively, will boost YICT's weekly shipping service to a total of seventy, and allow shippers to have more choices on shipping services especially during peak seasons.
The eight new services include five East Asia/American routes, two European routes via Suez Cannel and Rotterdam, and one Asian route via Colombo and Dubai in the Middle East.
Four of these eight additional new services calling at YICT this month will be operated by Maersk Sealand, and they include two American services, TP2 and TP9, one Middle East service, FEMB, and one European service, AE8W. Since July 2004, Maersk Sealand has increased its shipping services by adding Yantian to its ports of call on its Pacific route. To date, Maersk Sealand has launched a total of twelve shipping services at Yantian.
On 10 July, Hanjin will launch a new American service, PSX, at Yantian. A total of nine vessels will be deployed to enhance the shipping service on this American route, out of which five comprise of 7,500 TEU container vessels. In addition, Hanjin has plans to build an additional five vessels of the same capacity. "Hanjin Boston", being the first, will start her maiden voyage on PSX on 8 July. The remaining four vessels will be built in the second half of 2005 to gradually replace the existing fleet. All of Hanjin’s nine vessels serving the PSX route will be of 7500 TEU capacity.
2005 is a year of "Think Customer Campaign" for YICT. In response to the campaign, YICT has set a target to achieve an annual average quay crane rate of 35 moves per hour. This target has already been accomplished with an average of 35.45 moves per hour in the first half of the year. Efficient port operations can help save logistics costs for customers and increase handling capacity. Yantian has now become one of the most well-known ports of call in Southern China for numerous international shipping lines.