THE Alliance's first direct route to the Middle East from northern China opened at Qingdao Port in Shandong province. The maiden voyage ceremony was held on April 7.

THE Alliance is the world's third largest container liner alliance. Its members include Hapag-Lloyd, Ocean Network Express (ONE), Yang Ming Marine Transport Corporation, and Hyundai Merchant Marine, four of the world's top 10 container liner shipping companies.

THE Alliance's first direct route to the Middle East from northern China opens at Qingdao Port in Shandong province. The maiden voyage ceremony was held on April 7. [Photo/dzwww.com]

Qingdao Port is affiliated with Shandong Port Group, which was established in August 2019. It makes use of major port facilities in Shandong province, including ports in Qingdao, Yantai, Rizhao, and Bohai Bay. Its goal is to optimize resources and reduce unnecessary competition.

The new route will help the port operate more smoothly, stabilize the development of foreign trade, promote port services in Shandong, and facilitate regional integration into the Belt and Road Initiative, said a local official.

Along the route, ships will stop for supplies, repairs, and the transfer of cargo at four major ports in the Middle East, namely Port of Dubai, Port of Abu Dhabi, Port of Dammam, and Port of Jubail, while Qingdao Port serves as the only port of call in North China.

Li Fengli, chairman of Shandong Port Group, said that it makes sense to cooperate with world-class shipping companies to open new routes and ensure efficient shipping routes to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on foreign trade.

Ships prepare to leave the foreign trade container terminal of Qingdao Port in Shandong province. [Photo by Yu Fangping/For China Daily]

The group has been ramping up efforts to accelerate the creation of a worldwide logistics network integrating land and sea transport. It reported considerable increases in the amount of cargo and containers from January to March this year, despite the coronavirus epidemic.

During the first quarter, cargo throughput totaled 340 million metric tons, an increase of 5.1 percent over the same period last year, while container throughput was 7.14 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units), a 4 percent increase.

At the end of April, an ultra-large containership with a capacity of 24,000 TEUs belonging to Hyundai Merchant Marine, a member of THE Alliance and the number one national container carrier in South Korea, will make its maiden voyage from Qingdao Port.