Monday, 29 September 2014 01:50
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Local shipping industry; already the luckiest beneficiary of Chinese investment in Sri Lanka, will get a further boost when China Shipping Container Line (CSCL) resumes calling Port of Colombo soon, the industry sources reveals.
CSCL one of the top container shipping lines in China and in the world is reported to have teamed up with CMA CGM; the third biggest container carrier in the world and the UASC; the strongman in the Gulf sector. The new alliance; known as Ocean Three, would have a 20% market share on Asia-Europe and 13% on the transpacific. Hubs that are expected to cover by the new alliance include Port Klang and Colombo in Asia and Malta and Port Said, in the Mediterranean.
They plan to use Hamburg as the main gate way for Northern European ports with six calls a week whilst there will be three calls per week at Rotterdam, Southampton, Felixstowe, Antwerp, Zeebrugge, Le Havre and Dunkirk giving a wider option to local shippers.
CSCL is destined to be the proud owner of the largest container ship ever built a 400-metre (1,300 feet) giant that stretches more than four football fields and longer than the 399-metre A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S (MAERSKB) when it sets sail in November. This ship, the first of five similar vessels on order will give CSCL an edge in the shipping industry where depressed container rates have pushed shipping lines to seek economies of scale and lower fuel costs. CSCLs’ new vessels will carry 19,100 standard 20-foot containers or 830 more than its rival; Maersk Line and expected to join the Ocean Three partners’ fleet.When the service is started, Colombo port is going to be the happy host of the biggest container vessel ever called any South Asian port.
CSCL is represented in Sri Lanka by Ceyline Neptune Shipping Ltd; a member of Ceyline Group.