It has been a meteoric year for Vietnam’s container trades with the opening up of deepwater terminals and subsequent services linking the former French colony to the world, making the need for feedering to places such as Singapore increasingly redundant. Now The New World Alliance (TNWA), which includes Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL), APL, and Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM), will introduce a direct Vietnam-to-North Europe service for the first time next month.
Alliance partners said today they will create the new route by adding a Vietnam call to their “JEX” service. The first vessel in the service is expected to call at the Cai Mep in South Vietnam in mid-January.
The service will link Vietnam with the European ports of Rotterdam, Hamburg and Le Havre. It will also provide direct connection from major Japanese and Chinese ports to Vietnam, where further trade growth is expected.