In Hellenic Shipping News 06/05/2015
Taiwan’s Yang Ming Lines, one of the leading container shipping companies formalized this week, an agreement with Cosco’s subsidiary in Hellas, Piraeus Container Terminal (PCT), under which Yang Ming will use the PCT-run facilities in the country’s biggest port as a transhipment hub for the wider region of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. This week saw the arrival of the first ship, which will serve this new trade, the newbuilding Yang Ming Wish, a 14,000 TEU vessel, which was delivered and held its maiden voyage ceremony as recently as last April 16, 2015. The vessel is chartered from its owner, Seaspan Corporation.
It was the first of 15 such ships that will serve the company’s trade in the Mediterranean region. Yang Ming is represented in Hellas by Arkas Hellas. The company’s head, Aurette Arkas said that there will be four departures and arrivals per week, with cargo then transhipped through smaller vessels to other ports in the Far East. An additional two sailings will be used to serve the biggest north European ports.
In a separate deal, Yang Ming’s smaller vessels will start using the facilities of the Port of Thessaloniki, in the north of Hellas. They will be used to serve the cargo needs of the northern parts of the country, as well as the ones of the Balkan region. It’s worth noting, that Yang Ming, has been contemplating this move for over two years now. The company is the world’s 14th biggest company in the container sector, with a fleet of 89 vessels and a total capacity of 410,000 containers.
Yang Ming follows the example of MSC and Cosco itself, which have been using the Piraeus Container Terminal for their transshipment needs, while other port customers included France’s CMA CGM and Maersk. This practically constitutes a totally new activity for Piraeus, as it will welcome Yang Ming’s biggest vessels, which have a capacity of 15,000 containers. “The most important thing is that Piraeus will now become the loading port for the company, which entails additional benefits for the port as the containers to be unloaded in Piraeus will then be received by other, smaller vessels that will take them to their final destination,” explained Mr. Paris Evangelinos, head of Arkas Shipping in the Thessaloniki offices. In the first quarter of the year, terminals 2 and 3, which PCT operates, handled 736,400 containers, up 7.5% from the same period in 2014.
