Grand China Shipping starts two big ship shuttle services

GRAND China Shipping (Yantai) Co Ltd (GCS), the liner shipping arm of Grand China Logistics (GCL), has commenced two domestic shuttle services, linking north and south China. The services deploy four 2,000-2,700 TEU vessels, which the carrier acquired this summer on the second-hand market, according to an Alphaliner weekly newsletter.

The new services are the Yingkou-Huangpu Shuttle Service that uses two 2,680-TEU; and the Xingang, Huangpu, Quanzhou, Qinhuangdao Shuttle Service that deploys two 2,000-2,670 TEU. It described the vessels as being the biggest in the GCS fleet. It noted that the carrier's "recent expansion has seen the shipping line move from position 116th in the liner operator rankings which it held in January, to place 51 today."

With these shuttles, GCS becomes the third-largest domestic Chinese container shipping company, after CSCL and Cosco, said Alphaliner adding that GCS also operates several weekly shuttles, which connect north and central China and Japan, using ships of 300 to 1,000 TEU."

It added that GCS also plans to launch this month an additional shuttle service through slot buying on Winland Shipping's north China-Japan service, which connects Xingang, Dalian, Weihai, Hakata, Osaka, Kobe, Nagoya, Tokyo and Yokohama.

But GCS will not cover Weihai because a service to this port will be offered covered by two Winland-chartered 1,000-TEU ships, said Alphaliner.

Grand China Shipping (Yantai) Co Ltd, co-invested by Grand China Logistics Group, which is owned by HNA Group, and Shandong Longkou Port Group, was established in Yantai on June 8, according to China Daily.

"The establishment indicates that HNA Group has made an important step in its transportation system towards the integration of land, sea and air. This corporation will operate a China-Japan container liner service and also provide transfer and through transport services for customers from home and abroad," said the newspaper.

It added that the Grand China Logistics Group is an integrated logistics corporation of land, sea and air, formed by the HNA Group in March 2009. It owns several companies, involving sea transportation, air cargo, logistics, port and vessel management.

Grand China Logistics Holding Company Ltd, the major management unit of the logistics business of the HNA Group, changed its former registered name of Yangtze Logistics Company Ltd with the approval of China's State Administration for Industry & Commerce in July 2007.