Direct-Asia container service comes to Port NOLA

Courtesy Port of New Orleans

The Alliance has launched a new direct Trans-Pacific Asia container service, dubbed the East Coast Loop 6, to serve ports in New Orleans, Houston and Mobile.

East Coast Loop 6 is the first service within The Alliance network to directly and seamlessly connect the U.S. Gulf with important ports in Asia via the Panama Canal, according to a Port NOLA press release. The Alliance is comprised of Ocean Network Express, Hapag-Lloyd, Hyundai Merchant Marine and Yang Ming Line.

“This new direct-Asia service highlights the industry’s continued investment in the New Orleans market,” says Port NOLA President and CEO Brandy D. Christian. The additional capacity will support Port NOLA’s growing export business for commodities such as resin, poultry, forestry and agricultural products.

Port NOLA is currently in the middle of a $100 million expansion project at the Napoleon Avenue Container Terminal that will add four new 100-foot-gauge container gantry cranes in fourth quarter 2021. The expansion will increase capacity to 1 million TEUs and allow the port to work larger ships more efficiently. See Port NOLA for additional information.