Top Page > Press Release 2006 > MOL Opens New Ho Chi Minh City-Hong Kong Container Service Provides Fastest Transits to North America

MOL Opens New Ho Chi Minh City-Hong Kong Container Service
Provides Fastest Transits to North America

February 14, 2006

TOKYO - Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL; President: Akimitsu Ashida) today announced the launch of their new VH1 container service linking Ho Chi Minh City and Hong Kong offering competitive cut offs and the fastest transit times to North America.

The moves are part of MOL's plan to expand their Vietnam services in response to booming trade volume and increasing customer needs for service reliability.

With the deployment of an MOL operated containership on this new service, the company will offer a more stable schedule for transport between Vietnam and North America via Hong Kong. In Hong Kong the route connects to various Transpacific line haul vessels bound for North America. The new service will provide the fastest connections, not only for the North America west coast ports, but also intermodal destinations via various gate ports, Oakland, Los Angeles, and Seattle.

VH1 Rotation
Hong Kong (Sat/Sun) - Ho Chi Minh (Wed/Thu) - Hong Kong (Sat/Sun)

Transit time (examples)

Ho Chi Minh City-Oakland 15 days
Ho Chi Minh City-Los Angele 16 days
Ho Chi Minh City-Seattle 14 days

Start of service
MOL Accuracy: March 25 with call at Hong Kong

MOL's network in Vietnam
MOL has recently been expanding its container service network in Vietnam which is growing rapidly and emerging as one of the company's key strategic markets. The company has already improved its network linking the major ports of Ho Chi Minh City and Haiphong with Asia and the rest of the world. One example is the CBC route which offers the fastest service from Ho Chi Minh City to Japan.

MOL is also working on other feeder to enhance Vietnam/North America market. Details will be announced in the near future.

In the future, the company will continue to offer higher quality services, and contribute to further growth of Vietnamese industries through its extensive ocean shipping activities.