APL announces new Vietnam service
APL is bullish on growth prospects from Vietnam as the shipping line announces the launch of a new Japan–Thailand–Vietnam service.
The JTV service marks APL’s third new offering from Vietnam in recent months having started Vietnam’s first direct service to the US in June, and joined another transpacific service from Vietnam started by its alliance partner MOL.
While the first half of the year was difficult for container lines in Vietnam, there has been a great improvement in recent months according to APL Vietnam managing director Barry Akbar.
He said there had been a good pick-up in volumes in the second half of the year and the company was outperforming the market. He declined to reveal figures citing the blackout period ahead of Singapore-listed parent Neptune Orient Lines’ third quarter financial results.
The JTV service will link the export manufacturing centres of Vietnam and Thailand with the more mature Asian markets of Japan and Taiwan. APL will deploy three 1,200 teu vessels on the service, calling at its Vietnam International Container Terminals joint venture terminal in Ho Chi Minh City.
Mr Akbar said APL Vietnam was looking at new markets and one of the fastest growing areas was intra-Asia.
Despite the economic crisis, Vietnamese government officials expect the country to report positive container volume growth at its ports for 2009 as a whole. Last year the country’s ports handled just over 5m teu.
Mr Akbar in part credited Vietnam’s export growth to a shift in markets from the US and Europe to Asian countries as major western importing nations bore the brunt of the economic crisis. He said in the past Vietnamese exporters had only looked to US and European markets.
Vietnam has also seen the development of its reefer container market, enabling it to meet the standards required by Japanese importers for their goods, including both seafood produce and manufactured goods.
Looking further afield APL is looking at the opportunities directly serve Europe from Vietnam once the Asia–Europe trade recovers.
“The market recovers there are opportunities in [Europe] and we are looking at those opportunities,” he said.
Vietnam’s first deepwater container terminals became operational at the end of May offering the possibility of mainline direct calls for the first time.
Mr Akbar remained confident about the outlook for Vietnam’s trade and said APL’s customers in the country were seeing growth this year.
He added that new services the line had launched from Vietnam this year had met capacity and utilisation targets, although again declined to reveal the actual figures.
The JTV service marks APL’s third new offering from Vietnam in recent months having started Vietnam’s first direct service to the US in June, and joined another transpacific service from Vietnam started by its alliance partner MOL.
While the first half of the year was difficult for container lines in Vietnam, there has been a great improvement in recent months according to APL Vietnam managing director Barry Akbar.
He said there had been a good pick-up in volumes in the second half of the year and the company was outperforming the market. He declined to reveal figures citing the blackout period ahead of Singapore-listed parent Neptune Orient Lines’ third quarter financial results.
The JTV service will link the export manufacturing centres of Vietnam and Thailand with the more mature Asian markets of Japan and Taiwan. APL will deploy three 1,200 teu vessels on the service, calling at its Vietnam International Container Terminals joint venture terminal in Ho Chi Minh City.
Mr Akbar said APL Vietnam was looking at new markets and one of the fastest growing areas was intra-Asia.
Despite the economic crisis, Vietnamese government officials expect the country to report positive container volume growth at its ports for 2009 as a whole. Last year the country’s ports handled just over 5m teu.
Mr Akbar in part credited Vietnam’s export growth to a shift in markets from the US and Europe to Asian countries as major western importing nations bore the brunt of the economic crisis. He said in the past Vietnamese exporters had only looked to US and European markets.
Vietnam has also seen the development of its reefer container market, enabling it to meet the standards required by Japanese importers for their goods, including both seafood produce and manufactured goods.
Looking further afield APL is looking at the opportunities directly serve Europe from Vietnam once the Asia–Europe trade recovers.
“The market recovers there are opportunities in [Europe] and we are looking at those opportunities,” he said.
Vietnam’s first deepwater container terminals became operational at the end of May offering the possibility of mainline direct calls for the first time.
Mr Akbar remained confident about the outlook for Vietnam’s trade and said APL’s customers in the country were seeing growth this year.
He added that new services the line had launched from Vietnam this year had met capacity and utilisation targets, although again declined to reveal the actual figures.