COSCO ADDS 8TH ASIA/NORTH AMERICA SERVICE

   Expansion-minded China Ocean Shipping Co. will launch its eighth weekly
container service in the Asia/North America trade at the end of May.
   COSCO is introducing the new "China Northeast" service, with six ships
of about 2,000-TEUs capacity, thereby adding 100,000 TEUs in yearly
capacity to the transpacific trade.
   At the same time, COSCO is replacing its former six-ship "Northeast
Asia" service by a new loop, named "China Southeast," which will use the
same vessels.
   The rotation of the China Northeast service is Vancouver, B.C.; Long
Beach; Dalian; Xingang; Qingdao; Kobe; and Vancouver.
   It isn’t clear whether "K" Line and Yangming Marine, COSCO’s alliance
partners, will have space on the new COSCO transpacific link.
   COSCO’s expansion follows the addition of considerable capacity by
Evergreen, Mediterranean Shipping Co., CMA-CGM, Norasia and Zim.