China Shipping Container Line Company, the world’s 8th-largest container shipping company by capacity, will begin cargo service to the US Gulf Coast and Florida through a slot charter arrangement on the weekly Pacific Express 3 string operated by CMA-CGM, which will include calls at APM Terminals Mobile, APM Terminals Jacksonville and Miami’s South Florida Container Terminal (SFCT), in which APM Terminals is a joint venture partner with Terminal Link.

“We are very pleased to welcome China Shipping as a new customer of APM Terminals in Mobile, Jacksonville and Miami, and look forward to further strengthening our relationship with this important global carrier” said APM Terminals Americas region, Chief Commercial Officer Jonathan Goldner.

Shanghai-based China Shipping Container Line Company currently operates 149 vessels, with a combined total capacity of approximately 560,000 TEUs, ranking 8th globally by this measure. This new China Shipping service which has been named the AAE2 will be made available through a slot charter agreement with French-based CMA-CGM. Ports of call on the AAE2 include Xiamen, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Busan, in the Far East, and Manzanillo, Panama, in addition to the US ports of Houston, Mobile, Miami and Jacksonville. Vessels range in size from 3,398 TEU to 5,096 TEU capacity.

APM Terminals Mobile, which opened in 2008, and features a 45 foot depth and cranes with an 18-container row reach, saw container volume grow by 45% in 2011, while throughput at SFCT, in which APM Terminals holds a 49% share, expanded by 13.5%.