Hanjin Adds New Vessel Call at Port of Seattle

Hanjin Shipping Company Ltd. has announced it will offer a new weekly vessel call at the Port of Seattle as part of its Pacific Southwest Pendulum Service II (PS-PDM II). The service makes Seattle the final stop for loading North American exports before heading to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. The service then transits the Suez Canal, calls on ports in Northern Europe, and returns via Colombo, Port Kelang, Hong Kong, Pusan, Osaka, Tokyo, and Long Beach. The first vessel on the PDB service to call Seattle will be the Portugal Senator on October 5.

The PS-PDM II service includes 10 ships with a capacity of 4,500 container TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) each, and two 5,300 TEU-capacity vessels.

"Adding Seattle to the port rotation of this service at a time when overall volumes on the West Coast are down is a sign of the vitality of the trade corridor served by the Port of Seattle," said Steve Sewell, Managing Director of the Port of Seattle's Seaport Divsion.

"This is very exciting for Hanjin in Seattle," said Beth Ann Savre, Regional Manager for Hanjin. "It's just another way to prove to the shipping community that we will remain strong in the Pacific Northwest and that better things are yet to come."

Hanjin has been one of the Port's largest container shipping lines for more than 20 years. In March Hanjin and the Port signed a new lease agreement that will keep the shipping giant on Seattle's waterfront for up to 15 more years and provide room for the carrier to grow its business here.

"The new lease agreement was designed to bring additional business to our Port, and to give Hanjin an opportunity to grow and prosper here," said Sewell. "I think this demonstrates that we're on the right track."

The Port will make substantial improvements to Terminal 46, where Hanjin vessels call in Seattle. Those improvements will include a new truck gate, three new container cranes, improvements to the container storage yard, and a new administrative building.

The addition of a new service by a major container carrier is in line with the recommendations of a recent report by a citizens advisory committee, which supports efforts to grow the seaport's container terminal line of business. The report, known as Harbor Development Strategy 21, includes a wide range of recommendations for the future of all of the seaport's lines of business.

Hanjin already calls Seattle with a pair of express services linking the Port to major Asian markets. The new service will bring the number of Hanjin's weekly vessel calls in Seattle to two.