China Shipping Group Co. (CS) announced it has entered into a strategic cooperation with Pacific International Lines (PIL) to “achieve a win-win situation.”
In a brief media statement, China Shipping said it signed on August 12, 2014 a strategic cooperation agreement with PIL.
PIL director and president Zhang Songsheng and CS director and president Zhang Guofa signed the agreement on behalf of the two sides.
CS chairman Xu Lirong, vice president Xu Wenrong, vice president Liu Xihan, and PIL director and vice president Chen Chuji and China subsidiary president Gu Youyi were present at the event.
“Before the signing ceremony, the two sides carried out a warm and friendly discussion, and both agreed to deepen cooperation and achieve a win-win situation,” the statement said.
Earlier this month, China Shipping officials also met with executives from compatriot shipping company COSCO Group to forge deeper ties. CS in a statement said Xu Lirong and Zhang Guofa met with COSCO chairman and party secretary Ma Zehua and his delegation on August 4.
“The two sides agreed to deepen cooperation, complement each other’s advantages and create a better future together,” it added.
PIL’s new service
Meanwhile, PIL will soon introduce a service connecting Central and Northeast Asia to New Zealand to complement its existing loop from Southeast Asia to New Zealand.
The new service will be a slot arrangement on the weekly Asia New Zealand Express (ANZEX/NZN) jointly operated by CMA CGM and Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL).
This service, branded by PIL as the New Zealand China Service (NCS), will have a port rotation of Busan, Suva, Auckland, Port Chalmers, Lyttelton, Napier, Tauranga, Noumea, Hong Kong, Shenzhen-Chiwan, Keelung, Ningbo, Shanghai, and back to Busan.
The NCS focuses on central and northeast Asian ports, and complements PIL’s weekly Southeast Asia-New Zealand service operated jointly with OOCL, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, and Nippon Yusen Kaisha.
