The New World Alliance (TNWA), which includes Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL), APL, and Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM), will introduce a direct Vietnam-to-North Europe service for the first time next month.

Alliance partners said today they would create the new route by adding a Vietnam call to their JEX service. The first vessel in the service is expected to call at Cai Mep in South Vietnam in mid-January.

With the addition of Cai Mep, TNWA will be able to offer its customers a direct line-haul service from the emerging Vietnam market to North Europe.

The service will link Vietnam with the European ports of Rotterdam, Hamburg and Le Havre. It will also provide direct connection from major Japanese and Chinese ports to Vietnam, where further trade growth is expected.

The new JEX rotation is Kobe, Nagoya, Shimizu, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Yantian, Cai Mep, Singapore, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Le Havre, Tangier, Jeddah, Singapore, Yantian, Hong Kong, Kobe.

Concurrently with the above change, the westbound Tangier call will be transferred from JEX service to SCX service. This transfer will enable MOL to offer improved transit times from China to West Africa.

The SCX’s new port rotation is Ningbo, Shanghai, Xiamen, Hong Kong, Chiwan, Singapore, Colombo, Tangier, Southampton, Hamburg, Rotterdam, Singapore, Hong Kong, Ningbo.