Hanjin Chennai at Hamburg

According to the Japan News, Japan-based Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) and South Korean Hanjin Shipping (HJS) are set to launch a new joint shipping service in early July called the Far East Middle East Express (FMX) service.

The FMX service will reportedly be operated by six 6,200-6,500 TEU vessels, with NYK deploying one vessel and HJS five.

The first sailing will be the NYK Aquarius, which leaves from the port of Busan, in South Korea, on 7 July.

The 42-day route will see vessels docking at Busan and Gwangyang (South Korea), Shanghai, Ningbo and Yantian (China), Singapore, Colombo (Sri Lanka), Jebel Ali (UAE), Dammam (Saudi Arabia), Bandar Abbas (Iran), Karachi (Pakistan) and Port Klang (Malaysia), before returning to Busan via Singapore.