The new service will start the 2nd week of May 2003 replacing the COZ service in serving customers’ transportation and logistics needs between China and Australia.
The new ACE service will deploy five container vessels with capacity of 2,500 TEUs each, including two new buildings from OOCL namely "OOCL Sydney" and "OOCL Melbourne". China Shipping’s vessels "CSCL Fuzhou" and "CSCL Kelang" currently in operation under COZ service will remain in the new ACE service. A 5th vessel jointly provided by OOCL and China Shipping will phase in mid June 2003.
The "OOCL Sydney" and "OOCL Melbourne" will be equipped with 300 reefer plugs and will provide further improvement of reefer service to our Australia and China reefer customers.
The ACE service port rotation will cover Shanghai, Chiwan, Hong Kong, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Kaohsiung, Hong Kong and back to Shanghai. The inaugural sailing of "CSCL Fuzhou" from Shanghai on 15th May 2003 will mark the start of this new service.
ACE group is in discussion with other lines and consortia in the trade for possible cooperation.
China Shipping now owns a fleet of 103 container vessels with a total capacity of over 120,000 TEUS, and is operating dozens of domestic coastal routes and international container liner services from China to Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, Australia, Europe, Mediterranean and North America. The company has formed a network covering the main ports of China, Japan, Korea, South East Asia. Its Far East-Europe/Mediterranean line is now serving almost all China-based ports, with big capacity as compared with other carriers. 
