COLUMBUS LINE ENHANCES WEST COAST AMERICAS-ASIA SERVICE

Columbus Line announced enhancements to its West Coast Latin America ?Asia service, making possible additional port calls in the Americas and Asia. The service alliance, which includes Columbus Line, TMM and Maruba, will be expanded to include Chilean carrier CCNI, effective May 20th. Collectively, the participants will operate 11 ships on the trade (avg. 2,500 TEU nominal capacity).

Columbus Line Senior Vice President Juergen Pump said the service, which makes fixed-day weekly calls at key ports in South and Central America, Mexico, the U.S., Canada and the Far East, is adding Latin American calls at Corinto, Iquique, and Antofagasta, and Asian port calls at Yokohama and Keelung.

The port call rotation is: Eastbound -- Hong Kong- Yantian- Shanghai- Busan- Vancouver- Long Beach- Manzanillo- Puerto Quetzal- Puerto Caldera (FN)- Corinto (FN) - Callao- Iquique- Antofagasta (FN)- San Antonio. Westbound -- Lirquen - Buenaventura (FN) ?Puerto Quetzal (FN)- Manzanillo - Long Beach - San Francisco (FN) ?Seattle (FN)- Vancouver - Yokohama - Keelung - Hong Kong. (FN ?fortnightly)

Pump said the latest changes continue a steady enhancement of the service. Originally launched as a fortnightly rotation linking the West Coasts of the Americas, the frequency was upgraded to fixed-day weekly and service was extended to Asia in 2000. The latest expansion of port calls is made possible by the insertion of an 11th vessel in the rotation.

Pump said overall, there are some early signs of recovery in Asian volumes, primarily eastbound. Inter-American volumes remain stable.