Carrier Alliance to Launch Vietnam-Europe Loop

The New World Alliance plans to introduce its first direct container ship service from Vietnam to North Europe in January, a significant addition to Vietnam's new Cai Mep International Terminal. 

Alliance members APL, Hyundai Merchant Marine and MOL said Monday they will create the new route by adding a Vietnam call to their JEX service. The first vessel in the service is expected to call at Cai Mep in southern Vietnam in mid-January.

The service is a boost to a port outside Ho Chi Minh City that Vietnam believes will carry an important part of its trade growth in coming years. APM Terminals is a major investor in Cai Mep, along with Saigon Ports and Vietnam National Shipping Lines. 

The revised JEX service will start with the departure of the MOL Precision from Kobe on Jan. 4 departing from Cai Mep on Jan. 15.

By The Numbers: Asia-Europe Westbound Container Traffic.

With the addition of Cai Mep, the alliance will provide direct line-haul service without feeder connections from the rapidly growing Vietnam market to North Europe.

The port rotation of the revamped JEX service will be: Kobe, Nagoya, Shimizu, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Yantian, Cai Mep, Singapore, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Le Havre, Jeddah, Singapore, Yantian, Hong Kong and back to Kobe.

The transit time from Tokyo to Cai Mep will be seven days, and from Cai Mep to Rotterdam, 21 days

-- Contact Peter T. Leach at pleach@joc.com.