Peter T. Leach | May 12, 2010 11:39AM EDT
The Maersk Mathilde called at a port near Ho Chi Minh City Wednesday, as Maersk Line launched its new direct TP6 service between Vietnam and the U.S. West Coast with the largest ship ever to call Vietnam.
The 1,204-foot ship, which has a nominal capacity of 9,000 20-foot equivalent units, called at the SP-PSA International Port in Vung Tau, a deepwater facility located 50 miles south of Ho Chi Minh City near the mouth of the Cai Mep-Thi Vai River.
The weekly TP6 service, which is made up of 13 Maersk Line ships, will have a Wednesday sailing from Vung Tau, providing a Monday evening cargo closing for exporters, and a Sunday arrival into Los Angeles with a transit time of 18 days.
The rotation of the TP6 service is: Tanjung Pelepas, Vung Tau, Yantian, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Yokohama, Nagoya, Shanghai, Ningbo, Xiamen, Hong Kong, Yantian and back to Tanjung Pelepas.
Maersk Line said its will continue to service South Vietnam's imports via transhipment to feeder service at Hong Kong.
It will continue to service North and Central Vietnam by feeder via Hong Kong and/or Tanjung Pelepas.
The Mathilde Maersk was built in 2009 with energy-efficient construction of its hull, propeller and engines. It is equipped with a waste-heat recovery system that enables waste heat to be used for propulsion and cuts fuel consumption.
-- Contact Peter T. Leach at pleach@joc.com.
