APM Terminals Bahrain, operators of the state-of-the-art Khalifa bin Salman Port, (KBSP), welcomed recently the inaugural Hanjin/NYK service with the arrival in port of the NYK Theseus. Shipping companies will now have access to a new and direct service to and from US West Coast and Korea, a first for Bahrain.

The agreement was signed by APM Terminals Bahrain with Nippon Yusan Kysha (NYK), a Japanese company, and Hanjin Shipping, a Korean company in Singapore. The new service will directly connect international ports such as ones in Singapore, Malaysia, Korea, Los Angeles and Shanghai before arriving in the kingdom.

Commenting on the new shipping service, Simon Brebner, chief commercial officer at APM Terminals Bahrain, said: “We are pleased to welcome this new direct service which will now open direct lines for shipping companies in the kingdom and significantly boost transshipment activities thereby contributing to the kingdom’s economy.

“Furthermore, the direct call into Bahrain from two of the top 10 global carriers Hanjin (South Korea) and NYK (Japan) is a reflection of Bahrain’s increasing capabilities to provide transshipment opportunities to and from the Upper Gulf and we look forward to welcoming and delivering value to this service on a regular basis.”

Bahrain has a Free Trade Agreement with the US. The new service will arrive in Bahrain every Monday evening. and provide opportunities for further trade growth between the two countries. It will also increase the kingdom’s access to new and competitive markets globally and sit alongside the already well-established APL WAX (West Asia Express) service that has been calling directly from Asia to Bahrain since 2010.