PIL announces port call addition to Gulf China Service

Pacific International Lines (PIL) announced the further enhancement of its Gulf China Service (GCS) with the addition of Hamad Port in Qatar to the existing calls to Jebel Ali in Dubai and Dammam in Saudi Arabia.

The updated service will call Singapore on the westbound route from China to the Middle East. Currently, GCS calls Singapore on the Eastbound route from the Middle East to China and then connects the Middle East directly to China on the Westbound route.

The new port rotation of the GCS will be the following:

Shanghai (China) – Ningbo (China) – Nansha (China) – Shekou (China) – Singapore (Asia) – Jebel Ali (Dubai) – Dammam (Saudi Arabia) – Hamad (Qatar) – Singapore – Shanghai

The enhanced service will commence on 9 January 2023 from Shanghai, served by the current consortium of seven vessels with an upgraded average effective capacity of 4,000-5,200 TEUs.

Tonnie Lim, chief trade officer of PIL, said, “We are enhancing our GCS to broaden PIL’s presence in the Middle East, and to capitalise on the growth potential of the Middle East region. This is part of PIL’s efforts to meet the needs of its customers worldwide for more comprehensive coverage in the Middle East.”

He added, “We also aim to further strengthen our linkages from South East Asia. With this dedicated service, PIL continues to drive its global connectivity through the key Asian gateway of Singapore to our extensive network coverage of Middle East.”