COSCO Shipping Lines (COSCON) is launching expedited services this week for shippers to get their goods more quickly from China to Chicago or to heavily-congested Los Angeles/Long Beach, the biggest port complex in the United States.
Deploying five 4,250TEU ships, CEN-EXPRESS transports containers from Qingdao and Shanghai to Prince Rupert. The CEN-PLUS, deploying six 10,000TEU vessels, will call at Tianjin, Qingdao, Shanghai and Los Angeles.
Via CEN-EXPRESS, goods are railed to Chicago from DP World’s container terminal in Prince Rupert port by direct CN double-stack service. COSCON says such a service can deliver goods from China to Chicago in 19 days.
“The express services provide 3,500TEU of incremental capacity for the Transpacific service, which will effectively relieve the pressure on the import-export market between China and US, especially for Long Beach and Los Angeles,” stated COSCON.
The China-US West Coast voyage typically takes 14 days, but ships have been waiting an additional nine days at anchor before berthing due to severe congestion. Then bottlenecks in US rail network mean it could take a month for goods to reach inland destinations. (Photo Prince Rupert Port Authority)
