HAINAN P O Shipping (HPOS) is relaunching its own Transpacific (TP) service later this month after a temporary halt since December 2011, and will now offer one sailing every 35 days, with the intra-Asia CSV 2 service extended to call at Long Beach on every fifth sailing.

To ensure the periodic TP connections, a fifth ship with a capacity of 2,800 TEU is to be added to the CSV 2 service, previously run with four ships of 1,700-1,800 TEU, according to Alphaliner.

The move allows HPOS to maintain its ship provider status on the Far East-US route in accordance with US rules. The last HPOS ship to have sailed between China and the US is the Hugo Schulte, which departed from Shanghai on January 23 and has been shifted thereafter to the HPOS-TSL 'China-Australia Express' (CAX).

The new HPOS TP service will be different from the former service due to the specific pattern of the CSV 2, and will be the only service to offer direct connections between Yangpu and the US West Coast. The service will also offer a direct Ho Chi Minh City-USWC link, using the Cat Lai terminal. Currently all transpacific services calling Vietnam travel to Cai Mep which is located about 50 km from Ho Chi Minh City.

The first sailing from Ho Chi Minh City is planned for June 10 with the 1,795-TEU Sicilia and the service will call at Ho Chi Minh City (Cat Lai), Laem Chabang, Yangpu, Hong Kong, Yantian, Xiamen, Ningbo, Shanghai, Long Beach, Xingang before continuing on the CSV 2 rotation to Dalian, Incheon, Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, Hong Kong, Yangpu, Ho Chi Minh City.

HPOS had originally intended to re-launch a weekly TP service connecting Busan, Hong Kong, Yantain, Xiamen, Ningbo, Shanghai, Long Beach, and Busan in June using six ships each with a capacity of 3,500 TEU. However, this plan has been temporarily withdrawn until market volumes pick up.

The shipping company will also continue to buy slots on the CSCL's America-Asia Container service (AAC), with volumes of 800 TEU per week on a roundtrip basis, a service initiated in November 2011. However, it has put an end in end April to its temporary slots of 300 TEU per week on Cosco's transpacific SEA service, after only operating for one-and-a-half months.

HPOS and its former partner TS Lines had originally organised a three-loop transpacific system in May 2011, replacing their single joint TP loop. HPOS entered the transpacific trade in August 2010 while TS Lines entered this trade in November 2010. Two of these loops were subsequently closed in July 2011 and September 2011. TS Lines exited from the trade in December 2011 when it ended its partnership with HPOS on the TP service and will not participate in the revived service.