The Star, March 10th, 2003 - CHINA Shipping Container Lines (CSCL) is set to strengthen its container ship services to Europe with the launch of a fleet of nine vessels by the middle of the year.

The mv Xin Pu Dong, the first of nine vessels, was commissioned into the company's Far East-Mediterranean-Europe Express Container Service.

"Each of the new vessels will have capacities of between 5,600 to 5,800 TEUs with service speeds of over 25 knots as well as new schedules that cover Asia and Europe," said China Shipping (Malaysia) Agency Sdn Bhd director Tang Wan Jun.

The launch of the 66,433 gross tonnes mv Xin Pu Dong, which made its maiden voyage to Westport earlier this month and is able to carry a total of 5,668 TEUs, will lead a fleet of vessels that will be deployed to CSCL's Far East-Mediterranean-Europe Full Container service.

This service will call at Westport every Saturday before making its way to the Port of Genoa, Valencia, Felixstowe, Hamburg and Antwerp.

"After Antwerp, the vessel will sail back to the Far East, calling in at Genoa, Khor Fakkan, Port Klang, Hong Kong and Shanghai.

"We aim to strengthen our ties with Europe as well as to provide one of the best sailing routes between Asia and Europe with this service," said Tang, adding that a sister vessel, the mv Xin Da Lin, which arrived in Port Klang last week, will also be sailing on the Far East-Europe route.

The launch of the mv Xin Pu Dong also marked an important point in Chinese maritime history as being one of the biggest container ships to be constructed and built in China's shipyards in Shanghai and Dalian.

"The berthing of mv Xin Pu Dong in Westport - and the ordering of the eight other vessels - is the first step in achieving our goal of becoming a top class liner operator.

"At the same time, CSCL will improve our working procedures so as to increase our service efficiency to meet our customers' requirements. Our priority is our customers and we want to be able to deliver what we promised.

"With the delivery of these vessels, we can expect more ships to be built entirely in China. China is slowly proving itself to be a major market force and the building of these ships are only the tip of what the country is capable of producing," said Tang.

Westport executive chairman Tan Sri G Gnanalingam said it was a win-win partnership as CSCL had strategic expansion plans in the pipelines and Westport was well poised with the adequate capacity to welcome the rapid growth.

"CSCL came on board Westport's select group of main line operators with a terminal service agreement in March 2000.

"At that point, CSCL moved 41,500 TEUs and have since seen their transhipment and local cargoes grow to 250,000 TEUs last year, which is an impressive achievement," he said.

Wholly owned by CSCL, the mv Xin Pu Dong was delivered on Jan 1 , with the sister ship the mv Xin Da Lin delivered two weeks later.

Both vessels are registered in Shanghai.

The remaining seven vessels will be delivered by June.