Natal
Natal (IMO 9333072) outbound from Pier 51A, Honolulu Harbor, assisted by Foss Maritime tugs Mikioi and Pi‘ilani. 28 December 2019.
Natal is operated by APL on its Eagle Express X run, which features direct, weekly service from China (the ports of Ningbo and Shanghai) to Los Angeles. Honolulu is a stop on the westbound leg of the run.
Note that the ship is riding high in the water despite the number of containers she is carrying on deck.
Natal with Mikioi at her bow. 28 December 2019.
Pi‘ilani at Natal’s stern. 28 December 2019.
The Maritime Hawaii description of the Eagle Express X (EXX) service implies it calls Honolulu Harbor on a weekly basis, which is incorrect. While the overall EXX is weekly, it only calls Honolulu on a fortnightly (every two weekly) basis. The fortnightly port rotation is: Busan (South Korea) / Ningbo (China) / Shanghai (China) / Los Angeles (California) / Honolulu (Hawaii) / Dutch Harbor (Alaska) / Busan. The EXX (Hawaii) service provides for the carriage of general container cargo from Asia to Hawaii. The weekly call at Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands carries frozen seafood products sourced from the Bering Sea fishery to Asia. As the APL EXX service is operated with foreign flag ships it is prevented from carrying cargo between U.S. ports by Jones Act cabotage.
Mr. Hansen,
Thank you for the expanded explanation regarding the service to Honolulu.
The original description of the EXX service was meant to be general.