New Direct Shipping Route Opens between Incheon and the U.S.

Incheon Port Authority announced the opening of the Pacific South 8 route for direct shipping between the United States and the Port of Incheon.

Previously, the service was provided by Hyundai Merchant Marine under the name of Pacific South 1. More recently, the company joined the THE Alliance and the name was changed to Pacific South 8. Members of the alliance such as ONE, Hapag-Lioyd and Yang Ming Line now use the new route.

The ports of call of Pacific South 8 are Incheon, Shanghai, Gwangyang, Busan, Long Beach, Oakland, Busan, Gwangyang and Incheon with Tacoma replaced with Oakland. Export shipping from Long Beach to Incheon takes 17 days and import shipping from Incheon to Long Beach takes 18 days. The lead time is three days shorter than that of the Pacific South 1 service.

The Port of Oakland is the largest cool cargo container shipping port in the Americas and the replacement is expected to add to the reefer container handling volume of the Port of Incheon.

The service from Incheon to the Americas has an annual volume of approximately 80,000 TEU. The new direct shipping route is expected to increase the traffic of the Port of Incheon by at least 50,000 TEU in the second half of this year.