Port Houston will be the first port of call in the United States on a new direct Trans-Pacific Asia service being launched by THE Alliance called the “EC6,” an East Coast all water service via Panama calling the U.S. Gulf.
Economic expansion and corporate relocations (Tesla, Hewlett Packard, Oracle are among several new corporate relocations recently announced) have fueled a large and fast growing consumer base and strong housing market which has translated to new import distribution centers in Houston and throughout Texas.
Combined with the biggest manufacturing region in the North America for exports, Houston and the U.S. Gulf is a prime area for carrier service growth.
In its service network announcement for 2021, member carriers of THE Alliance which include Ocean Network Express (ONE), Hapag-Lloyd, Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) and Yang Ming Line have stated they are, “launching the East Coast Loop 6 (EC6), the first service within THE Alliance network to directly and seamlessly connect the US Gulf with important ports in Asia.”
Among the nation’s top container ports, Port Houston was 2019’s fastest-growing, according to data from maritime sector data vendor IHS Markit PIERS. Port Houston nearly hit the 3 million mark for twenty-foot equivalent units last year, recording 2,987,291 TEU sand is on track to approachthe same record for 2020 despite the pandemic.
Port Houston is a prominent import gateway with a growing population base that is adding to customer demand. Loaded imports at Port Houston grew 5% in 2019, driven by a broad spectrum of companies from sectors including retail, alternative energy, food and beverage, and industrial materials.
The new service launched by THE Alliance is part of an adjustment of its overall network. THE Alliance said they made changes to offer customers more capacity in trade lanes with the greatest demand. Additionally, the network has been evaluated and reconfigured to ensure better frequency, more competitive transit times and comprehensive port coverage.
The EC6 service will call the ports of Kaohsiung –Hong Kong –Yantian –Ningbo –Shanghai –Pusan –(Panama) and Houston on a weekly basis before making stops in New Orleans and Mobile before returning to Panama and onward to Kaohsiung.
About Port Houston
For more than 100 years, Port Houston has owned and operated the public wharves and terminals of the greater Port of Houston –the nation’s largest port for the foreign waterborne tonnage and an essential economic engine for the Houston region, the state of Texas and the U.S. nation. The Port of Houston supports the creation of nearly 1.35 million jobs in Texas and 3.2 million jobs nationwide, and economic activity totaling $339 billion in Texas –20.6 percent of Texas’ total gross domestic product(GDP)–and total of $801.9 billion in economic impact across the nation.