SM Line unveils new transpacific service

SOUTH Korea's SM Line has introduced its new weekly transpacific Northwest express service as it makes good on its plans to broaden its reach in North America.

It noted in a statement that the service will help meet increased customer demand for coverage in Canada and the US Pacific Northwest.

The boxship subsidiary of Korean construction conglomerate Samra Midas Group will deploy six 4,000 teu vessels on the Pacific Northwest Service (PNS) which will commence its first sailing from Yantian in China from the first week of May.

Port rotation is as follows: Yantian, Ningbo, Shanghai, Pusan, Vancouver, Seattle, Tokyo, Pusan, Kwangyang and Yantian.

"This new service will further enhance our transpacific service coverage and will underlines SM Line’s commitment to widen our North America presence," it said.

The move comes amid compatriot Hyundai Merchant Marine downplaying the possibility of any partnerships with SM Line on transpacific routes to the US.

"From a business perspective, it is difficult to find a synergistic effect of co-operation with SM Line considering its uncertainty in business and service reliability etc," a HMM official told Lloyd's List.

A SM Line official told Lloyd's List that the company had earlier officially contacted HMM regarding a potential collaboration on the transpacific network which could help both firms lower operating costs.

"However, this is one of the option of SM Line’s Asia-America trade network establishment. So this proposal to HMM does not mean it’s our only option."

As such, it introduced its new weekly offering stated above.

"Recently, the merger with Woobang Engineering & Construction of Samra Midas Group has been completed, so we expect we can strengthen our financial structure," added the official, in response to HMM's concerns over its business.

HMM's concerns though may be valid as the Korea Shipowners' Association noted in a statement during its first regular general meeting of the year that its number of members had fallen to 157 from 171 as the 14 shipping lines in question went out of business as the prolonged shipping downturn took its toll

Source: Lloyd’s List

 
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