Rapidly expanding TS Lines from Taiwan has become the latest intra-Asia operator to venture forth on the booming transpacific trade.
The company has just launched a North West 1 service linking China with Canada. The service is a standalone one, according to Alphaliner, and features five ships in the 1,750 to 2,250 teu range and calls at Nansha, Shekou, Shanghai, Qingdao, Vancouver, Nansha.
The last time TS Lines had boxes on the transpacific trades was 10 years ago in partnership with now defunct Hainan PO Shipping.
The remarkable growth of regional Asian carriers on the transpacific this year has seen liners who are not in any of the three major alliances now account for roughly one third of all traffic heading between China and North America.
TS Lines’s entry in the trade comes at a time where rates, while still sensationally high, appear to have peaked and are on a downward slope over the past week.
