Four Asian Nations Join in Sea of Japan Liner Service

07.10.2008 (14:56)

China, Russia, Korea and Japan have signed cooperation agreement on launching the first scheduled sea-land intermodal service around the Sea of Japan.

The new shipping line, to start trials this month, commences from Huichun city in China's Jilin province, connecting to Russia's Port of Zarubino via land transport, then to Korea's Port of Sokcho via ship and finally to Japan's Port of Niigata, covering a distance of 800 nautical miles, Hong Kong Shipping Gazette reports.

According to the agreement, Korea will set up a shipping company with a registered capital of US$3 million to run the service. China, Russia, Korea and Japan respectively hold 16, 17, 51 and 16 per cent's stake in the company.

Without this service, cargo from northeast China to Japan has had to detour on land to eastern China's port of Dalian then cross the Bohai Sea and Huanghai Sea, taking 12 days. The new service will greatly reduce the sailing time to one and a half days by using road in Russia before the cargo are loaded onto ships to Japan.

According to the agreement, ships with a deadweight tonnes of 15,000 tonnes, which is able to carry 120 TEU and 500 passengers, will be deployed on the service.

Huichun city's shipping authority director Yin Jingbin said the future cargo and passenger flow on the service is hard to estimate, but he expects the operator to make a profit in three years.
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