It has been confirmed that The Containership Company will launch its first service between Taicang (near Shanghai) and Los Angeles in the middle of April. Called Great Dragon, it will deploy a fleet of between 5 to 6 ships [presumably on a slow-steaming basis] ranging between 2,500TEU and 3,000TEU capacity.

The move follows a successful share sale in Norway earlier this week amounting to approximately USD25 million. Most of the shares were acquired by a 'well known Norwegian shipowner' who cannot yet be identified, but has no container interests of note.

Norway-based Boxton Maritime AS also bought some of the shares. Its managing partner Jacob Tolstrup-Moller is the Containership Company's ceo, and Franck Kaiser its coo.

Tolstrup-Moller said: 'Great Dragon will be a no-frills port-to-port service that we hope will appeal to shippers looking for a new partner. We plan to launch a second share issue later this year, which will provide funds for further expansion.'

Taicang is located 64km north-west of Shanghai, in China's Jiangsu province. Its container terminal, Taicang International Gateway, is 70% owned by Hong Kong-based Modern Terminals. Last year it increased its traffic by 4%, up to 1,510,000TEU.