THE PORT of Wellington has secured another trans-Tasman caller, with COSCO Shipping and OOCL’s joint ANE/ANS service to add a weekly visit from 19 September.
Commencing from v 014E of the COSCO-chartered 1,728 TEU Celandine, departing Melbourne 4 September, the ANE/ANS service port rotation will be Melbourne, Bell Bay, Port Botany, Auckland, Tauranga, Wellington, Melbourne. Celandine will be followed by the other service regulars, the 1,102 TEU Pride C (OOCL) and the 1,819 TEU ESL Winner (COSCO).
The new ANE/ANS rotation represents a further expansion of the partners’ trans-Tasman/NZ coverage, which was initiated in May 2023 with Auckland calls and extended to Tauranga the following year when the third ship was added.
The latest change comes just over a month after ZIM/Gold Star quit the Tasman and NZ market when it cancelled a slot-charter arrangement on the latter’s TranzTas and ANZ Shuttle services.
And Wellington was also a winner in June this year when MSC added direct calls to the rotation of its Noumea Shuttle service.
While MSC’s Wellington-East Coast Australia direct connection is with Port Botany, COSCO/OOCL’s is with Melbourne, offering an 8-day transit.