BIZCHINA / Center
Matson Navigation eyes second route to China
By Zheng Lifei (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-06-15 08:48
Matson Navigation Company, a leading US shipping firm operating in the
Pacific, is "actively exploring opportunities" for a second route to
China, according to senior company executives.
The company last year invested $365 million in vessels, containers and
terminal assets to inaugurate the China-America route, which has port
calls in Ningbo and Shanghai as well as Long Beach, California.
The 15-month-old container shipping route "exceeded our expectations",
with revenue now accounting for about 15 percent of Matson's business
turnover, said Allen Donae, the company's chairman.
The weekly service, which handles 50,000 containers annually, passes
through Ningbo and Shanghai before arriving 11 days later in Long Beach.
Related readings:
Large sea transport group sees shipbuilding
Oil shipper expands fleet
Demand in logistics sector to grow 15% in 2007
US urged to embrace China trade
"Our first route is near capacity but we have no plan to add capacity (to
the existing route) at the moment," said James Andrasick, Matson's
president and CEO .
He added that a second China-US route is now "part of our strategic
planning", but that no specific route has been chosen.
Shipping routes between China and US possess enormous potential as trade
between the two countries grows, said Donae.
Matson has no plan to invest in Chinese ports like other international
shipping giants, such as Maersk, have done in China. "We are a relatively
smaller player in the Chinese market and we don't want to run before we
can walk," Andrasick said.
"Our objective is to become an ocean carrier targeting a very high-end
market through our reliability and speed," Donae said. Matson recently
introduced "Guaranteed Expedited Service" on the China-US route, which
means customers will be compensated if Matson fails to deliver cargo on
time.
Matson selected Shanghai and Ningbo because of their strong growth
potential, as well as their close proximity in the Yangtze River
corridor, which allows Matson to maintain a fixed-day weekly schedule
during its 35-day port rotation, Andrasick said.
(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)
Learn Chinese, Chinese Online Class
No comments:
Post a Comment