South Korea’s new container shipper SM Line Corp. who is ready to make its first voyage to Vietnam on Wednesday plans to start services in its main western United States route next month with an aim of beginning services in the route connecting the U.S. southern city of Savannah to the Port of New York on the East Coast next year, said SM Line President Kim Chil-bong on Monday.

The fledgling shipper was created by Samra Midas (SM) Group through its purchase of the Asia-North America route from now-defunct Hanjin Shipping. It took 189 days for a Korean container liner to set sail since the fallout of the once world’s seventh largest shipper Hanjin Shipping in September last year had dealt a harsh blow to the nation’s shipping industry.

“It would take long time for the Korean shipping industry to recover as more overseas ship owners than we think have turned their back on the nation’s shippers after the Hanjin Shipping’s collapse,” said Kim.

“The launch of SM Line is aimed at helping recovery of the struggling shipping industry in Korea,” said Kim. “Despite the unfavorable circumstances, we will work carefully without haste.”

The liner will start its first cargo service from Busan port in southern Korea to Thailand and Vietnam on Wednesday, to Hai Phong in Vietman on Friday, and from China to the West Indies on March 21. Including its service in the Western U.S. route scheduled next month, it will launch services of total nine routes this year.

“We will start cargo service with five 6,500 twenty-foot equivalent (TEU) vessels in the western U.S. on April 16, and launch new services in the eastern U.S. route passing through Panama after 2018,” said Kim. The company also plans to beef up its capacity to achieve the goal by securing large-sized 8,000-TEU to 10,000-TEU ships.

“SM Line has competitiveness as it is the only domestic container liner servicing in the western U.S. route,” said Kim. “We aim to achieve 400 billion won ($347 million) in sales this year and 3 trillion won in five years time,” he added, meaning it has set its goal to grow its business to 65 percent of Hyundai Merchant Marine whose annual sales reach 4.6 trillion won by 2022.

By Kim Jung-hwan

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]