Asian Shipping Lines Launching East Med to U.S. Service

A group of Asia’s top shipping lines are launching a new transatlantic service connecting the Eastern Mediterranean with ports along the U.S. East Coast. 

The new East Mediterranean – America (EMA) Service is being launched Ocean Network Express (ONE), COSCO Shipping Lines, OOCL and Yang Ming. 

The first voyage is expected to start in April 2020. 

The EMA service will be jointly operated by the four lines and consist of six Panamax vessels. The port rotation for the weekly service is Mersin – Haifa – Alexandria – Istanbul – Piraeus – Genoa – Algeciras – New York – Norfolk – Savannah – Algeciras – Mersin. 

“EMA, as a dedicated service between East Mediterranean and East Coast America, will offer competitive transit times and provide more service frequencies in the market,” the companies said in a press release.

“By including Genoa and Algeciras port calls, the four lines will also engage in Genoa and Algeciras west bound service and provide diverse intra Mediterranean services through multi-stage utilization of the service. With the introduction of the new EMA service, the four lines are pleased to offer enhanced service quality by meeting customer’s demand in the niche market,” it said.

Japan’s Ocean Network Express (ONE) and Taiwan’s Yang Ming are members of THE Alliance, while China’s COSCO and Hong Kong-based OOCL are a members of the Ocean Alliance. 

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