A direct container service between Nanjing and Ulsan, South Korea was opened on 1 December. This is Nanjing’s first new near-ocean regular call in five years and it was announced just one month after the local government published a raft of incentives to encourage shipping lines to start regular services from Nanjing. Hamsung Shipping, operating the weekly service every Wednesday, deploys a 332 TEU vessel that also calls at Busan on the way.

Four weekly near-ocean direct services exist already. Cosco operates separate services to Busan and Kwangyang, the two largest container ports in South Korea, as well as one service to Japan, while Sinokor operates a service to Busan and Kwangyang.

Nanjing is one of just two Yangtze ports that handles more than 1m containers a year. By the end of 2010, container throughput is expected to exceed 1.4m TEU. The other major port is Taicang, whose container throughput is expected to reach 1.7m TEU.