A major Taiwanese shipping line is expanding into Sri Lanka by deploying 1200 Teus vessels calling Karachi / Mundra via Colombo on a weekly basis, with the inaugural call of MV ‘Helena Rickmers at Colombo on October 13, 2007.
The service known as SPX will link China, Korea, South East Asia with the west coast of India and Pakistan. The weekly service will have following port rotation – Singapore – Port Kelang – Colombo – Karachi – Mundra.
CNC is currently expanding aggressively into the Indian sub continent with several direct services.
CNC Line is owned by CMA-CGM of France. Currently CNC has several Intra Asia services.
MD of SAR Group Raju Radha stated that "This service will greatly benefit Sri Lankan exporters to Karachi since there is currently a severe space constraint and equipment (container) shortage due to the export boom from Far East ports."
Saliya Wickramasinghe and Priyath Wickrama, Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Sri Lanka Port Authority (SLPA) respectively explained that: "CNC was induced to call the Port of Colombo due to the combined efforts of SLPA and the SAR Group. New lines calling Colombo is a positive sign and shows Colombo is an important port in the trade lanes."
Chen Lie Navigation Co., Taiwan is represented in Sri Lanka by SAR Maritime Agencies (Pvt) Ltd.