Two vessels called the Port of New York and New Jersey as part of their maiden voyages on Friday, July 15. Mitsui OSK Lines’ MOL Beyond called GCT Bayonne from Tokyo, Japan while Hanjin Shipping’s Chongqing called Maher Terminals.
The MOL Beyond is part of Mitsui’s five ship commitment to the new “NYX” service calling GCT Bayonne. The neo-Panamax vessel is one of five 10,100 TEU ships that make up the new ten-ship “NYX” service operated by the G6 carrier alliance, making the Port of New York and New Jersey its first port of call. Hyundai Merchant Marine of Korea contributes an additional five-10,000 TEU ships to round out the ten ship commitment to this service.
ILA Locals 1, 1588, and 1804 handled more than 30 container moves per hour on and off the Beyond, while the ship’s agent, Norton Lilly, represented both the ship and Mitsui during its quick turnaround before heading back to Asia.
Hanjin’s Chongqing became the latest vessel to call Maher Terminals in a replacement scheme of ships deployed on the All Water East Coast North Loop 1 Service (AWE1) operated by the COSCO, “K” Line, Yang Ming, Hanjin, and Evergreen Line (CKYHE) alliance. The AWE1 service provides optimum port coverage from Asia to the U.S. East Coast.
Hanjin Shipping has begun to rotate larger ships to the Port of New York and New Jersey now that the new at Panama Canal locks are complete. The Chongqing is one of seven ships that the “CKYHE” Vessel Sharing agreement deemed necessary to meet operational and commercial demands as the peak shipping season gets underway.
The seven ship group replaces smaller 4,500 TEU class ships with 6,655 TEU vessels. Maher handled a total of 1,900 import containers and 1,660 export containers for this ship call. The AWE1 service offers the Port of New York and New Jersey one of the fastest transits from Busan, Shanghai, and Ningbo, China, making it the first port of call for time-sensitive import cargo.
Port Authority officials presented Captain H.T. Ko and his crew with a plaque commemorating the inaugural port call by the second of these new 6,500 TEU class vessels.