News / KMTC to dip its toes back in the transpacific trade after 40 years

KMTC Dubai Credit KMTC Line.

South Korean regional carrier KMTC Line has returned to the transpacific after 40 years, joining SeaLead Shipping’s Asia-US west coast (AWC) service.

From 17 June, the service, to be marketed as the Asia-Pacific Express (APX) by KMTC, is currently operated by Singapore-based SeaLead and Hong Kong-based TS Lines.

After HMM and SM Line, KMTC will become the third South Korean carrier on the transpacific, returning to a trade in which it was active from 1978 to 1985.

According to consultancy Linerlytica, KMTC will assign the 6,655 teu KMTC Mundra to the APX/AWC service.

The AWC/APX service will be upgraded at the same time, with larger vessels of 6,000-10,000 teu replacing the 2,900-5,600 teu ships currently deployed.

SeaLead is contributing the 10,000 teu Express Berlin, 7,000 teu Northern Monument and 6,800 teu Racine to the service that has a port rotation of Qingdao-Shanghai-Ningbo-Busan-Long Beach-Qingdao.

SeaLead’s spokesperson told The Loadstar: “This is part of an upscaling programme of the service size, along with KMTC joining. (The deployment) of 10,000 teu vessels is due to the spike in cargo volumes.”

On 30 April, KMTC demonstrated it again had long-haul ambitions, teaming with fellow regional players SeaLead, Regional Container Lines, TS Lines, Emirates Shipping Line, Sinotrans Container Lines and Sinokor Merchant Marine to start an Asia-Mexico service, tapping into the growing China-Mexico trade.

The 90-day armistice in the US-China tariff war, agreed on 12 May, has seen transpacific rates reach a three-month high, attracting newcomers and tempting existing players to increase capacity as US importers front-load to avert any re-implementation of tariffs after the grace period.

With the usual Q3 peak period brought forward, transpacific rates reached levels not seen since February.

On Friday, Shanghai Containerised Freight Index showed the Shanghai-US west coast rate gained 32% from the previous week, to $3,091 per 40ft, while the Shanghai-US east coast rate went up 22%, to $4,069 per 40ft.

Meanwhile, Premier Alliance members ONE, HMM, and Yang Ming will bring forward their Pacific South 5 (PS5) service launch to 5 June in anticipation of increased market demand following the China-US trade deal.

The PS5 will call at Qingdao, Ningbo, Long Beach, Oakland, Kobe, Qingdao, with a six-week turnaround, using six 6,500 teu ships, starting with the 6,588 teu YM Mobility at Qingdao on 5 June.