Chinese Shipping Company to Start New Naval LineThe China Ocean Shipping Company (Cosco) will start May 18 a new container naval line in the Panama Canal.Captain Cai Mijiang, the Asian multinational company general manager, told Xinhua Thursday that the new line, that will reach from the Far East to U.S. east coast, will have nine container- bearing ships. The nine ships that will operate in the new line include seven from Cosco, one of the Yaming firm of Taiwan, and one from the Kline Japanese firm, Cai told Xinhua in an interview. Cai said that the opening of the new route will produce more than 10 million dollars in tolls to the interoceanic waterway, that has been administered by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) since December 31, 1999. The ACP will obtain more than two million dollars from the Chinese conglomerate from the sale of fuels to its ships, all of them under Panamanian registry and of the "Panamax" class, the biggest that traverse the waterway. According to Cai the opening ceremony will be held at the Miraflores floodgates, the part of the canal closer to the Pacific Ocean, with the attendance of Cosco America vice president Song Qiming, and Panamanian vice president, Arturo Vallarino, among others. The ceremonial tour includes Shanghai, China, where it was held April 24, and precedes the one of New York, United States, foreseen for May 24, said Cai. The Cosco shipping company, which has 600 ships of assorted types, is the bigger user of the Panama Canal among the shipping companies. The Chinese conglomerate, whose operations cover almost all the world, has six branches in Latin America: Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Peru, Chile and Panama, where it started to extend its commercial ties since the decade of the seventies of the 20th century. |
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