A direct weekly shipping service between China and Calcutta was flagged off on Thursday with the promise to cut down transit time for the trade and improve logistic efficiency.

The service will be operated by Pacific International Lines (PIL) in association with Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port (formerly Kolkata Port Trust).

The China Calcutta Service will feature three dedicated vessels – Kota Ria, Kota Rukun, and Kota Rakiyat – each with an average parcel load of 622 TEUs, specially tailored to navigate lower draft conditions like in river Hooghly. This service promises a transit period of 10 to 12 days,

The port rotation for the route includes Xiamen– Shekou – Singapore – Calcutta – Singapore – Xiamen, providing robust connectivity and fostering trade growth in the region.

The inaugural vessel of this service route, M/V Kota Rakyat, was welcomed by deputy chairman, SMPK, Samrat Rahi at Kolkata Dock System on Thursday, in the presence of traffic manager R. S. Rajhans.

This weekly service is set to bolster the shipping efficiency for the burgeoning EXIM trade across Bengal, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, the Northeast states of India, as well as Nepal and Bhutan.

Chairperson of SMPK Rathendra Raman said, “We have planned for a concession scheme to stimulate vessel calls and container operations, effective for FY 24-25. With the introduction of the CCS, it is expected that the volume of container traffic handled at KDS will witness a substantial increase.”