Struggling Japanese container carrier K Li[ds_preview]ne broadens its activity in Intra-Asia trades with a new service.
The »China Saigon Indonesia Services (CSI)« will have direct port coverage from China to Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam and Indonesia. »This ensures faster transit time especially to Ho Chi Minh, Jakarta and Semarang compared with current transship product and expanded service network«, K Line announced. The carrier plans to deploy a vessel by itself on this service.
Intra-Asia routes are said to be one of the very few with relatively good prospects. Obviously, the company now intends to participate more in this market. From December 26, four vessels with a capacity of 2500 TEU each are supposed to trade in the rotation Qingdao – Shanghai – Ningbo – Ho Chi Minh – Jakarta – Semarang – Xiamen – Qingdao.
K Line, member of the planned cooperation »THE Alliance« with Hapag-Lloyd, NYK, MOL, is currently the No. 15 of global container carriers with a market share of 1.7% and a capacity of 349,000 TEU, according to Alphaliner. But as many others, the carrier is facing huge problems in the current market crises. To address these, K Line recently announced to form a national container alliance with Japanese competitors NYK and MOL. The »new« player will climb in the competition to rank 6, adding the combined orderbook even No. 5. In the national alliance, K Line – as well as MOL – will hold 31% of the shares.
