The Port of Wilmington's longtime container-shipping partner, the CKYH Alliance, announced March 29 that it will add a second container service at the Port as part of an upgrade and reconfiguration of its East Coast services. The existing CKYH service is adding larger ships to the rotation, increasing capacity significantly.
Beginning in June, the Port will receive Hanjin Shipping Co. vessels on the Alliance's new AWE North Loop, serving Qingdao, Ningbo and Shanghai in China and Busan, Korea.
In announcing the new service, the CKYH Alliance said, 'The launch of direct links from Qingdao, Ningbo and Shanghai to Wilmington offers service variation as well as shorter transit time and schedule reliability.'
Expanded container service at the Port of Wilmington is a key part of economic-development projects in progress that would create thousands of high-paying, high-quality jobs in assembly, manufacturing and distribution facilities statewide, especially in the state's eastern third and far-western regions where they are most needed.
'These projects result directly from the choice by Governor Easley and the leaders of the General Assembly to invest in the Ports,' said Carl J. Stewart, Jr., Chairman of the Board of Directors of the N.C. State Ports Authority. 'The new service, and the capabilities of the container terminal and our four new cranes, give us a giant step forward in our mission to enhance North Carolina's economy and create jobs.'
The Ports have received $20.5 million in appropriations for Ports expansion programs since Gov. Mike Easley began including capital appropriations in his budget requests in 2003. Those requests were translated into appropriations by the strong support of the Ports' delegation leaders in the General Assembly.
Of that amount, $16.5 million has gone toward Wilmington's $143-million container-terminal expansion, which includes $33.2 million for four new 100-foot gauge container cranes that will go into service next week.
'This news confirms that the demand for our expanded container terminal is strong,' said Ports Authority CEO Thomas J. Eagar. 'We based our decision to proceed with the expansion on careful analysis of market demands, especially the needs of many North Carolina businesses who have been using other ports.'
The CKYH Alliance includes COSCO Container Lines of China, 'K' Line of Japan, Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp. of Taiwan, and Hanjin Shipping Co. Ltd. of Korea.
'We've been sharing the news about the increased capacity and improved service Wilmington offers now, with customers and steamship lines all over the world,' said Glenn Carlson, the Authority's vice president for Business and Economic Development. 'It's beginning to pay off now.'
Beginning this week, Yang Ming adds larger vessels to the Alliance's AW3 service, which currently calls the Port of Wilmington and foreign ports of Hong Kong, Yantian, Kaohsiung and Busan.
The 965-foot YM Los Angeles, arriving March 30 on its maiden voyage, is the same size as the Italia Marittima/Evergreen Marine ship Ital Laguna, which had been the largest container vessel to call at Wilmington. These vessels are the largest class of ships able to transit the Panama Canal. In December, the Ital Laguna joined the weekly AUX service between Wilmington and north China ports operated by Evergreen Marine and their vessel operating partner, Zim Integrated Shipping Company .
The YM Los Angeles' sister ship, the YM New Jersey, joins the rotation in May. The two brand-new vessels can carry 5,000 teus (20-foot equivalent units, the industry standard measurement of container traffic) each, significantly larger than the 3,725-teu capacity of the ships they replace.
'Fiscal 2007 was already looking like a winner in the Port's Container Department, with tonnage for the first eight months of the year up 32% and container moves up 14%,' said Chief Operations Officer Jeff Miles. 'Service expansion by the CKYH Alliance will hel
