AMERICAN President Lines (APL) has inaugurated a weekly service connecting south China's Hainan Island, Hong Kong and Vietnam, Xinhua reported.A 453 TEU containership will be deployed on the service, which is Hainan's first scheduled international liner shipping service.
Hainan's trade ties with Vietnam have grown closer in recent years. Before the service's launch, trade between the two countries was transhipped in Hong Kong, resulting in higher costs for shippers.
Hainan launched a non-scheduled liner service to Japan in 2002, which exclusively serves automaker Hainan-Mazda.