The Chinese shipping company China United Lines (CU Lines) is resuming shipping across the Pacific.
The reason for this is the rising freight rates. Initially, only a single route will be served.
The state-controlled Chinese operator will resume its China-Long Beach express service on June 7. CU Lines’ “Trans Pacific West Coast 1” (TP1) service will offer a rotation between Shekou, Ningbo, Qingdao, Long Beach and Shekou with a 38-day turnaround.
The industry service Linerlytica announced that five to six ships with 2,400 to 2,800 TEU will be deployed. The “CUL Manila” will make the start, departing from Shekou on June 7 and docking in Long Beach on June 29.
CU Lines shifts its core business
CU Lines was among several intra-Asian shipping companies that entered the long-haul trade during the Covid-19-related boom and operated a service between China and the US West Coast together with another state-owned shipping company, Shanghai Jin Jiang Shipping. In July 2023, the market correction led to the discontinuation of the service.
On May 23, the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index showed a 6% increase in the rate between Shanghai and the US West Coast to $275/FEU, while the rate between Shanghai and the US East Coast increased by 5% to $4,284/FEU. Linerlytica expects that rates could rise to $6,000/FEU to the US West Coast and $7,000/FEU to the US East Coast. This is encouraging shipping companies to expand their transpacific capacity.
Trans-Pacific capacity is up nearly 50% to 560,000 TEU as shipowners moved quickly after a 90-day “truce” in the tariff war between the U.S. and China on May 12.
“Capacity continues to expand as carriers capitalize on rising demand and soaring transpacific freight rates,” the industry service said. “CU Lines is the latest shipping line to join this trend, launching a new standalone transpacific service in June. Established carriers have also resumed discontinued services.” (PL)
