FEEDER operator SITC Container Lines is introducing an additional China-Philippines container service starting tomorrow (July 6).
Ports of call in China are Shantou and Xiamen. There are plans to extend the service to other ports in North China in three months.
The call to Shantou answers the transport needs of Philippine shippers dealing in scrap, mineral ore, coconut-based products and other raw materials.
Ports of call are Shantou-Xiamen-Manila-Shantou-Xiamen.
The service will use the 380-twenty-foot equivalent (TEU) MV OSG ACME, arriving Manila on Tuesdays and leaving on the same day. The vessel will call both the South and North Harbors.
MV OSG ACME is one of the vessels that services Shantou-Manila and vice versa.
Arnie De Guzman, commercial/export manager of SITC Container Lines Phils., Inc — the exclusive Philippine agent of SITC Container Lines Shanghai — told PortCalls the expansion is in anticipation of more opportunities in the Philippines-China trade following the entry of the new Aquino administration.
In the first four months of the year, the total volume in the Manila-China trade grew to 7,300 TEUs from 7,000 TEUs in the same period last year. Of the total, about 9.68% had been transported by SITC.
With the new service, SITC expects to increase its market share in the trade route to 15-20%.
Aside from the new offering, SITC Container Lines services Philippine importers and exporters through its China-Japan-Philippines or CJP service using two 900-TEU vessels that alternately call each of the three countries.
