Taiwanese forwarder TVL to re-enter liner shipping with intra-Asia string
Taiwanese forwarder and ship manager TVL Marine is re-entering container shipping after a seven-year absence, ...
Photo: Incheon Port Authority
By Alison Koo
Incheon Port Authority sees India and Indonesia as the new China, tapping into countries that are two of the largest emerging markets for container shipments.
And it has launched the South Korean port’s first direct container shipping link with India – the Far East-India Express (FIE).
The service was started by Hong Kong-based intra-Asia operator SITC Container Lines last weekend, with the departure of the SITC Cagayan (pictured above) from Incheon.
The weekly service has a port rotation of Incheon-Tianjin-Qingdao-Shanghai-Ningbo-Shekou-Chennai-Visakhapatnam-Haldia-Yangon-Ho Chi Minh-Incheon and deploys six 2,433 teu vessels offering a 16-day transit.
Incheon port officials said FIE was expected to become a key transport link for raw materials and finished products from major manufacturing plants in East India and the Seoul metropolitan area.
Containerised exports from South Korea to India, were previously handled only at Busan and Gwangyang ports. Incheon Port Authority president Lee Kyung-Kyu said: “The opening of this Far East-India route will mark a new turning point in Incheon port’s expansion of its logistics network with major ports in South Asia. We will strengthen our cooperation with South Asia to support exporters and importers in the Seoul area.”
The authority said it had recently been pursuing a strategy focusing on the “Next China” region to respond to the changing global shipping environment and the diversification of China-centric supply chains.
With US president Donald Trump hitting back at the concentration of manufacturing in China with tariffs, factories have been shifting to South-east Asia.
Specifically, Incheon Port Authority has targeted the Indian and Indonesian markets, and has been creating new routes through visiting shippers, and offering incentives in strategic regions.
Last month, South Korean feeder operator CK Line teamed with CMA CGM’s intra-Asia unit, CNC Line, and SeaLead Shipping to start a service connecting Incheon and Busan to the Indonesian ports of Tanjong Priok and Semarang, following Indonesia’s decision this year to join the BRICS bloc.
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