Seatrade-Maritime: CU Lines opens up new Red Sea service

Published by Seatrade-Maritime

While most top tier container lines continue to divert away from the Red Sea China’s CU Lines is adding a new service into the region from Asia.

CU Lines launches its new Red Sea Service (RES), introducing weekly direct sailings from East China and South China to Aqaba, Jordan.

The new RES service integrates with the existing regional routes to form a coordinated Red Sea service network. Combined with CU Lines’ wholly owned regional feeder services, it will deliver more comprehensive, efficient, convenient and reliable shipping solutions for customers.

The RES service departs from Shanghai, with the port rotation as follows: Shanghai – Ningbo – Nansha – Jeddah – Aqaba – Sokhna – Shanghai. The round voyage is expected to take 56 days.

“This upgrade to CU Lines’ Red Sea network supports the Belt and Road Initiative and meets growing trade demand between China, West Asia and Africa, as the company strives to provide premium logistics solutions for global customers,” stated the company.

Amid disruptions to shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf, CU Lines also launched two new services at the end of April: the CGX China–Middle East Direct Express and the CGS China–Khor Fakkan Express, responding to global logistics uncertainties. Khor Fakkan in the UAE provides a land bridge into the Arabian Gulf region.

By integrating these new routes with its existing Red Sea service and East Mediterranean service, CU Lines will deliver a more resilient Middle East route portfolio, the company said.