RCL makes maiden call at HuangPu port

RCL will be launching its new RSG (RCL Singapore Guangdong) service calling direct at the port of Huangpu with its maiden voyage on the 15 August 2001. This is part of its overall strategy to grow its China business.

The maiden voyage will commence on RCL’s Ora Bhum on the 15 August 2001 from Singapore. The vessel will follow a rotation of Singapore, Hong Kong, Huangpu, Hong Kong, Singapore on a fixed weekly service. This will be followed by the Pira Bhum, in what will be a two-vessel rotation. By providing customers with a direct link between Huangpu and Singapore, RCL will provide importers and exporters with a schedule that represents one of the industry’s fastest transit times of just five days southbound and six days northbound, respectively.

The current mode of service available to importers and exporters in Huangpu is primarily barge operations transhipping at Hong Kong. This new service will provide customers with the alternative of transhipping through Singapore. This feature is beneficial to customers using refrigerated containers. The transit time will offer more immediate access to on-carriage connections to and from South East Asia, the Indian Sub Continent, the Middle East and Australia. For mainline operators (MLOs), the RSG will allow them to access their own worldwide connections via Singapore.

The RSG service will call at the Guangzhou Container Terminal (GCT) in Huangpu, the newly inaugurated joint venture between Singapore’s PSA and the Guangzhou Harbour Bureau (GHB).

“We are optimistic about the growth prospects in China and we see the RSG service as providing further impetus and opportunity for us to strengthen our links with Huangpu and the hinterland of the Pearl River Delta. We see this as an important complement to our existing three China services,” said Mr. Sumate Tanthuwanit, Group President of RCL.

RCL currently operates three strings to China; the RSQ (RCL Singapore Qingtao), RSS (RCL Singapore Shanghai) and the RBS (RCL Bangkok Shanghai) services.