BEIJING: Managing Director of China Shipping, Ma Wut Hmone, said direct shipping links with China started last week with the arrival of the Chinese container ship Asiatic Wave at the terminal of Myanmar Industrial Port.
The first direct shipping from China vessel pulls into a Yangon port. The vessel had initially set sail for the Yangon port from Shanghai on January 26.
The direct service would be operated by four container ships, she said.
“Generally, the journey time of each shipment used to take between 18 and 25 days. But now it takes only 13 days,” she said.
U Ko Ko Htoo, chair of Myanma Industrial Port, said other Asian and European countries were expressing interest in initiating direct container shipment services to Myanmar now that the country’s doors are open to foreign commerce.
Traditionally, most container shipments from China to Myanmar transited via Singapore or other ports.
U Ko Ko Htoo said the direct shipment link could not only speed up both imports and exports, but generate a rapid cash flow for traders and businesspeople.
“I think the cost of direct shipment will be about 20 to 30 percent cheaper than before,” he said.
