THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 11, 1996 TAG: 9605110303
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHRISTOPHER DINSMORE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
A new shipping service connecting to the Far East through the Suez Canal is expected to bring up to 50,000 shipping containers a year through the port of Hampton Roads, adding about 5 percent to the port's already hefty container volume. The trade also offers great growth potential, positioning Hampton Roads to become a key East Coast port for trade with the Far East.
Sea-Land Service Inc. and Maersk Line will begin the joint service in June.
The recruiting coup for the Virginia Port Authority was announced Thursday night by Virginia's Transportation Secretary Robert Martinez at the 76th annual banquet of the Hampton Roads Maritime Association.
``I am bullish on the port of Hampton Roads,'' Martinez said.
Sea-Land, a subsidiary of Richmond-based CSX Corp., told the port authority this week that it intends to bring the Suez Canal service through Hampton Roads.
That trade link is expected to boom as development and industrialization in the Far East moves farther south into such nations as Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia.
It's becoming more efficient to ship to the U.S. East Coast through the Suez Canal from Southeast Asia than to ship cargo across the Pacific Ocean and haul it by rail or truck from West Coast ports.
The service also will be able to tap growing markets such as India and the Middle East.
``They're coming,'' said Joseph A. Dorto, chief executive and general manager of Virginia International Terminals Inc. ``We just don't know which terminal.''
Dorto would prefer to see the service call at Norfolk International Terminals, one of the three his company manages for the port authority.
But Sea-Land and Maersk could opt to bring the weekly ship call to Sea-Land's cramped terminal in Portsmouth. The lines are expected to make a decision soon.
``That's a small terminal with two small cranes,'' Dorto said. ``This is a big service with big ships.''
Besides Hampton Roads, the Sea-Land/Maersk service will also call on the North American East Coast at Halifax, Nova Scotia; Elizabeth, N.J., in New York's harbor; and Charleston, S.C.
Ships in the trade won't actually go through the Suez Canal, but will pick up cargo shipped through the canal at an Italian port.
The decision marks a return of the service to Hampton Roads. Maersk, a big Danish shipping company, took a smaller Suez service to Baltimore from Norfolk about four years ago, Dorto said.
Sea-Land and Maersk, two of the world's largest shipping lines, announced last year a global alliance to share space aboard their ships and cooperate in joint services.
Sea-Land and Maersk will now call in Hampton Roads in four services. Besides the Suez service, they are cooperating on a North Atlantic service and a service from Europe calling on both U.S. coasts through the Panama Canal.
The fourth service goes to South America. Sea-Land and Maersk recently brought that service to the Sea-Land terminal here from Baltimore, Dorto said. by CNB