‘G6’ Alliance starts services at Jaye Container Terminal

A plaque exchange ceremony was held last week on board the 8200 TEU vessel ‘MV NYK Virgo,’ operated by the G6 Alliance partner NYK (Nippon Yusen Kaisha) Line, in celebration of its inaugural call at the Jaye Container Terminal (JCT) of Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA). The alliance touches Colombo on its loop6 service.

Formed last December, the G6 Alliance, with a view to serving the Asia-to-Europe-and-Mediterranean market is composed of the carriers in the Grand Alliance and New World Alliance: APL, Hapag-Lloyd AG, Hyundai Merchant Marine, Mitsui O.S.K Lines, Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) and Orient Overseas Container Line. The new partnership has created one of the leading networks in the Far East-to-Europe and Far East-to-Mediterranean container shipping markets with more than 90 vessels in nine services calling at more than 40 ports in Asia, Europe and the Mediterranean. The synergy of these six lines will enable product and service features to be easily adjusted to market requirements.

“This is a milestone agreement that significantly improves service coverage in the Asia-Europe market,” member carriers said in a statement.  “We will offer sailing frequencies and direct coverage that compete with anyone in the market,” they noted optimistically.

The G6 Alliance launched six services between Asia and North Europe in the first week of March. Those serving Japanese ports will commence after completion of consultations with the Japan Harbor Transportation Association and labour unions. A seventh service will follow when it can be supported by sustainable trade conditions. The service will provide direct coverage to the Bohai Bay ports in Dalian and Xingang. Member carriers expressed their optimism that the new alliance will be characterised by fast transit times, broad port coverage and the latest vessels, with capacities of up to 14,000 TEUs. The new alliance will enable the most efficient integration of the largest ship sizes that will be introduced over the next 30 months.

The ‘G6 loop six service’ calls Colombo under the following voyage rotation; Kaohsiung – Xiamen – South China – Hong Kong - Singapore – Colombo – Southampton - Antwerp – Hamburg – Rotterdam – Jebel Ali – Singapore – South China – Kaohsiung.

To mark the significance of this move to the SLPA, plaques were exchanged between SLPA Managing Director Capt. Nihal Keppetipola and the Master of the vessel ‘MV NYK Virgo’ Capt. Anil Khanna in the presence of senior officials of SLPA and the officials of Messrs. NYK Line Lanka (Pvt) Ltd., including Director, Asanka Ratnayake, General Manager, Vishvanath Daluwatta and Operations Manager, Sagara Peris.

Commenting on the occasion SLPA Managing Director Capt. Nihal Kappetipola said, “The improved economy of the country resulting from the dawn of peace has created a conducive climate for a boom in the Shipping Industry in Sri Lanka.  This trend heralds a new era for the ports in Sri Lanka which is on the threshold of an economic renaissance with huge maritime-related infrastructure development projects.

We have demonstrated to our valued customers, our management efficiency and operational capabilities and won their loyalty. This has been evidenced specifically by the G6 Alliance with the lead line NYK coming back to the state-run JCT after 10 years. I most heartily thank G6 for choosing JCT, knowing very well that SLPA possesses every capability to deliver a highly effective strategy for business expansion. Under the Colombo Port Expansion Project, the 18 meter deep East Terminal will be ready by mid 2013 and a part of the Colombo South Terminal will be ready for operations by end of 2013.”

 “We strengthened the Container Handling Equipment (CHE) fleet by adding six Nos. of modern Gantry Cranes, 30 Nos. of Transfer Cranes, 50 Nos. of Terminal Tractors with 30 Nos. of Terminal Trailers. This has helped improve efficiency and productivity of the services, to a greater extent, at container terminals and container freight stations managed and operated by the SLPA.  Container throughput handled by the container terminals of SLPA had registered an increase in both domestic and transshipment volumes last year.  A 14.9% growth had been recorded in domestic container volumes from 563,349 TEUs in 2010 to 647,482 TEUs in 2011.  The volume of transshipment containers handled at the SLPA container terminals had shown a 3.2% increase from 1,533,845 TEUs in year 2010 to 1,583,195 TEUs in year 2011.  The total 2,299,446 TEUs handled in 2011, the highest-ever throughput in the history of SLPA, shows up an overall increase of 6.1% when compared to 2,167,173 TEUs handled in 2010. Overall, SLPA stands at a 53.9 % market share of the total 4,262,887 TEUs handled at the Port of Colombo in 2011 as against the 46.1 % market share of SAGT,” he further said.