Southeast Asia is now just a ship away for New England importers and exporters the Massachusetts Port Authority has announced. A new Port of Boston service via the Suez Canal begins May 27th, and adds direct destinations never before offered from Conley Container Terminal including Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam. The new service called AWE-5 is a consortium of the China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO), Yang Ming Marine Transport of Taiwan, Hanjin Shipping of South Korea, and Hyundai Merchant Marine also of South Korea, and is scheduled to call Boston every Friday.

“I am extremely pleased that our highly successful North China service over the last decade has resulted in the launch of a new direct service from Boston to additional Asian markets,” said Mike Leone, Port Director for the Massachusetts Port Authority. “The new Southeast Asia service will offer tremendous growth opportunities for New England’s trade-dependent companies wanting to do business with emerging markets in that region of the world. Direct access to these important markets is something we have been working towards for a long time, and I am confident it will be well-received.”

"The new Southeast Asia service calling Boston is wonderful news for our 700-member companies," said Richard Bridges, President of the Coalition for New England Companies for Trade (CONECT). "New England importers and exporters now gain considerable advantages and opportunities in doing business in the various countries there because freight will move direct through the Port of Boston."

Three of the current North China AWE-2 service partners, COSCO, Hanjin Shipping and Yang Ming Marine Transport will provide a total of nine 5,500 to 6,000 TEU Post-Panamax ships on the new AWE-5 route that will offer port calls at Hong Kong; Yantian, China; Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Cai Mep, Vietnam; and Singapore. Boston will be allocated 1,300 TEU on each ship, in each direction.

In the beginning, the addition of the new AWE-5 route is expected to increase volumes at Conley Terminal by more than 100,000 TEU a year. It is estimated that as many as 400 local and regional jobs will be created over time as a result of the new service. Also, the addition of Hyundai Merchant Marine boosts Massport’s roster of top 20 global container lines serving Conley Terminal to six.

“This new service allows International Forest Products more access to markets in southern China and Southeast Asia that were previously difficult for us to access. This second Asia service is a great complement to Boston’s existing north Asian routes,” said Daniel Kraft, President and Chief Executive Officer.

With the addition of the weekly Southeast Asia service, the Port of Boston is now called by four direct services. The others include:

  • Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) calls weekly with a North European service to the ports of Bremerhaven, Germany; Felixstowe, UK; Antwerp, Belgium; and Le Havre, France.
  • Mediterranean Shipping Company also offers a weekly Mediterranean service which connects to the ports of Naples and La Spezia, Italy; Valencia, Spain; and Sines, Portugal.
  • COSCO and its partners, “K” Line of Japan, Yang Ming Marine Transport, and Hanjin Shipping, operate a North China service, which provides weekly service to the Chinese ports of Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, and Yokohama.