THE Alliance new Asia service to call Port Houston

Port Houston will be the first port of call in the United States on a new direct Trans-Pacific Asia service being launched by THE Alliance called the “EC6,” an East Coast all-water service via Panama calling the U.S. Gulf.

Economic expansion and corporate relocations (Tesla, Hewlett Packard, Oracle are among several new corporate relocations recently announced) have fueled a large and fast growing consumer base and strong housing market which has translated to new import distribution centers in Houston and throughout Texas. Combined with the biggest manufacturing region in the North America for exports, Houston and the U.S. Gulf is a prime area for carrier service growth.

In its service network announcement for 2021, member carriers of THE Alliance which include Ocean Network Express (ONE), Hapag-Lloyd, Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) and Yang Ming Line have stated they are, “launching the East Coast Loop 6 (EC6), the first service within THE Alliance network to directly and seamlessly connect the US Gulf with important ports in Asia.”

“With the introduction of the EC6, HMM is delighted to add direct coverage between Asia and Port Houston to our expanding global service portfolio” said Jay Y. Lee, Chairman and CEO, HMM (America) Inc. “The EC6 will allow us to better serve our current customers who have voiced their desire for options between the US Gulf and Asia as well as open up a growing market for us” continued Mr. Lee.

Among the nation’s top container ports, Port Houston was 2019’s fastest-growing, according to data from maritime sector data vendor IHS Markit PIERS. Port Houston nearly hit the 3 million mark for twenty-foot equivalent units last year, recording 2,987,291 TEUs and is on track to approach the same record for 2020 despite the pandemic.