WILMINGTON: North Carolina Ports has partnered with THE Alliance for the addition of the EC2 all-water Asia-U.S. East Coast container service. This weekly service will begin calling on the Port of Wilmington in May and touts some of the largest vessels that will consistently come to and leave from the Carolinas.
THE Alliance includes container carriers NYK Group, “K” Line, MOL, Yang Ming and Hapag-Lloyd. Their transpacific service rotation includes direct access to the markets of Qingdao, Ningbo, Shanghai and Busan. The North Asia service will traverse the expanded Panama Canal on its way to U.S. East Coast ports, promoting fast transit times as well as the deployment of modern and efficient ships, 8,500 TEUs in capacity. “Our comprehensive port coverage continues to improve at North Carolina Ports,” said Executive Director Paul J. Cozza. “This new partnership with THE Alliance, a recent announcement with the 2M Alliance, plus our existing services, provide regional importers and exporters with a plethora of options through our Port of Wilmington.”
Both Yang Ming and “K” Line have a long history at the Port of Wilmington. Yang Ming, in particular, called the port for more than 35 years. Both carriers await their return to North Carolina this spring after the collapse of then-partner and container carrier Hanjin last fall. “The capital investments being made in our infrastructure continue to drive the decisions of these container carriers and we are expecting even more good news in the near future,” said Chairman of the North Carolina State Ports Authority Board of Directors Tom Adams.
