Seatrade Maritime is part of the Informa Markets Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.

APL launches new service to connect central Vietnam port of Chu Lai

1d0c9b6a8e9b95fa04fca5b9c9afe1b6
APL launched its new service to cover Central Vietnam, catering to Japanese automakers and other manufacturers, with the maiden call of the 1200-teu APL Chu Lai at the Chu Lai Tam Hiep Port this weekend.

The new weekly Chu Lai Haiphong Express (CHX) service delivered its first inbound shipment of automobile components from Japan trans-shipped via Shekou. The cargo has arrived in line with the newly-opened Truong Hai Automobile Joint-Stock company (THACO) – Mazda owned plant situated in the Chu Lai Open Economic Zone.

At an event attended by Vietnam pm Nguyen Xuan Phuc, APL global commercial head, Indika Dassanayake said, “We are excited to be opening a direct sea route to Chu Lai in Central Vietnam via the APL Chu Lai Haiphong Express service. Besides transporting materials and parts for the assembly plant for Mazda cars in Chu Lai, this service is dedicated to serving Chu Lai’s emerging industrial zones in Quang Nam and her neighbouring Central Coast and Central Highlands provinces. Exporters and importers are now able to leverage the service to gain immediate access to China and Hong Kong, benefit from more competitive transit times and reduce related logistics and transportation costs.”

Each week, the namesake vessel deployed on the CHX service will call the ports of Chu Lai, Haiphong, Hong Kong and Shekou (China). Inbound shipments from Hong Kong and Shekou to Chu Lai will take three and two days respectively. Outbound shipments from Chu Lai will arrive in Hong Kong and Shekou in four days. From the two trans-shipment hubs, shippers can expect to be connected to more Intra-Asia markets such as Japan, Korea and Singapore; as well as farther destinations such as North America, the Middle East and Europe among others via APL’s extensive global network.

APL currently offers 20 services that call the major Vietnam ports of Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Haiphong, Da Nang and now Quang Nam. The carrier is focused on enhancing its services to Vietnam as the country diversifies her industrial zones to Central Vietnam where the transportation and logistics infrastructure have been increasingly developed.

Dassanayake added: “Vietnam is one of the Asian economies that is most open to international trade. As a global carrier, we seek to provide market linkages through our services at non-traditional seaports such as the Chu Lai port, as they are increasingly being developed to accommodate direct international maritime routes.”