Another Direct Route
A new shipping route has been established connecting Incheon, South Korea to South China and Vietnam, contributing to service improvement and trade increases in South East Asia.
The Incheon Port Authority (IPA, www.icpa.or.kr) announced that Heung-A Shipping, a Korea-based shipping company, has started to provide regular container shipping services from the International Container Terminal (ICT) at Incheon South Port on April 12. The new route service is named as HaipongService2(HPS2).
The Heung-A Singapore is the first ship to enter the ICT to provide the HPS2 on April 12. It is a 2,000 TEU-class container ship which has been put in the route along with the Heung-A Manila.
Heung-A Manila and Heung-A Singapore will be responsible for the route that departs from and returns to ICT after visiting Busan, South Korea; Hong Kong; Haipong, Vietnam; and Shekou, China once a week.
In the inaugural journey via the new regular trade route linking the metropolitan area of South Korea to both South China and Vietnam, the Heung-A Singapore offloaded 600 containers or TEU and loaded 400 TEU on the same day. It will depart for the next port tomorrow, on April 13.
With the launch of HPS2, the IPA expects an enhancement of its service networks and capabilities connecting Incheon to Vietnam and other Intra-Asian countries. According to the IPA, the Incheon Port currently has 17 regular container service routes connected to Vietnam.
The IPA expects the HPS2 to handle 38,000 TEU by the end of this year through 38 servings of the route. The port authority expects it to handle 52,000 TEU in 2017 through 52 servings.
Kim Soo-cheol, marketing chief of the IPA, said, "For the successful operation of HPS2, the IPA will be actively promoting the service to shippers and forwarders (freight agencies), who are handling the import and export cargos in the metropolitan area, and will continuously look to necessary supports to provide better services.”