TAIWAN'S Kien Hung Shipping (Kien Hung Line), which provides a weekly container service between Japan, Hong Kong and Xiamen, will include Kobe calls next year.
The first ship to serve the Japanese port will be the Poyang, capable of carrying 490 teus, to be operated in a rotation of Yokohama, Osaka, Kobe, Hong Kong and Xiamen.
Cargo from Kobe will be transshipped in Hong Kong on Kien's Far East-South Africa-east coast of South America service, provided three to four times a month.
As part of its fleet expansion programme, the carrier has ordered two more 1,510-teu ships from Japan's Shin Kurushima Dockyard.
The company has already received three vessels of this size from the yard and the fourth is scheduled for completion in June.
It plans to increase the frequency of its Europe-South Africa service, started in June, from a 10-day interval to weekly next month.