COSCO Container Lines Americas, Inc. has introduced a new service connecting Asia and the Gulf of Mexico via the Panama Canal. The announcement was made by Timothy Marsh, CCLA's Vice President North American Sales. The Gulf of Mexico Express service, designated GME, is slated to launch from Shanghai April 29th, with calls at Ningbo, Xiamen, Yantian, then Colon and Houston. The inaugural run will also be the maiden voyage of the new MV COSCO Auckland, celebrating her addition to the COSCO fleet. COSCO is one of the world's largest ocean carriers, offering a complete range of container and intermodal services on a global basis, with unparalleled service to all of China.

In making the announcement, Mr. Marsh pointed out that 'the new GME service is an example of COSCO's efforts to simplify the lives of our shippers, by constantly adding services that respond to the need for speed and cost efficiency. One of the things that sets COSCO apart is the organization's massive resources and the capabilities of sister companies that we can bring to bear on customer transportation challenges. This year we launched 'COSCO Comprehensive', a service that vertically integrates all of COSCO's resources into a system that handles everything necessary to move customer products literally from product sourcing to store delivery with just one point of contact.'

Complete GME details, port rotations and transit times can be found on COSCO's website, www.cosco-usa.com. For more information, contact your local COSCO representative or call toll-free (800) 242-7354. COSCO maintains 85 representative offices in 49 countries and operational agencies located in 1000 cities in 160 countries worldwide.