New Transpacific player.

The Containership Company (TCC), created just last fall, inaugurated its first Transpacific voyage last month. Heralded as “The Great Dragon” service, it got underway in April with its eastbound debut by sailing from the Taicang International Gateway in Jiangsu. As recently reported in LM, Jakob Tolstrup-Møller, TCC’s CEO, said that this “port-to-port service will appeal to shippers looking for a new partner and a more direct link to the vast inland manufacturing base of the Jiangsu province.” The event comes at a time when U.S. West Coast shippers are fighting to find space on inbound and price hikes have been sticking. For the first time since mid-2008, average global container freight rates experienced a year-over-year increase in late 2009, according to the Drewry Global Freight Rate Index.