EVA Air and Shanghai Airlines held a signing ceremony today to mark the beginning of a through-transportation agreement on a Shanghai – Macau –Taipei cargo route that will expedite movement of large volumes of products and goods from Mainland China.  EVA President Steve Lin and Shanghai Airlines President H. X. Fan presided over the event in Shanghai. 

The agreement will go into effect on Aug. 6, 2003 when the first Shanghai Airlines freighter, a wet-leased B747-200, flies the route.  The Shanghai-based carrier will increase its cargo capacity on the route from 100 tons per month to 1,600 tons.  In Macau, Shanghai Airline’s flights will transfer cargo onto EVA’s Taipei-bound freighters in approximately two hours and 20 minutes, the fastest possible transit time.  The linkage between the carriers and the prompt exchange of goods will dramatically reduce delivery time for air cargo from Shanghai to the West Coast of the United States to less than 24 hours, and at the same time, cut some costs.

“This through-transportation agreement between EVA and Shanghai Airlines is based upon both carriers blocking space simultaneously,” said Mr. Lin.  “This is going to make delivery to our forwarders more efficient, and enhance the quality of our cargo services.  It is also going to establish the fastest routing for airfreight between Shanghai and Taipei through a third transit point.”
Under the new arrangement, EVA will be operating 28 weekly passenger flights between Taipei and Macau plus three freighters.  Shanghai Airlines will be flying 21 weekly passenger trips to Macau in addition to three cargo flights. 

Shanghai Airlines' cargo flights will depart Macau every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday at 7:05 p.m. and arrive at Pudong Airport in Shanghai at 9:15 p.m. on the same day.  Return flights will depart Shanghai at 11:30 p.m.  Forwarders will have just enough time to clear customs and meet all documentation requirements in Macau before air cargo is loaded onboard Taipei-bound EVA flights scheduled to depart on Thursday, Sunday and Monday.  Airfreight will immediately be moved worldwide as soon as it arrives at Taipei's Chiang Kai-Shek International Airport.  

EVA operates a well-developed network that serves major destinations around the world, and Shanghai Airlines has a far-reaching domestic system that links more than 40 gateways located throughout Mainland China.  The agreement between the two carriers and development of Macau as a seamless transfer point sets the stage for the transport of tons of air cargo from Mainland China to Europe, America, Asia and Australia.  The new cooperation gives forwarders and shippers the extensive reach of the respective route systems plus needed cargo capacity.  And, at the same time, it enhances reliability.

EVA began working with Shanghai Airlines in 1998 on direct container transit.  However, airfreight services on the route have fallen far short of meeting forwarders’ requirements.  Shanghai, as the cargo hub for the eastern region of Mainland China, has a potential annual volume of 600,000 tons.  The 1,600-ton-capacity and the effectiveness of the working relationship between EVA and Shanghai Airlines will serve as a model for expedited movement of a huge volume of airfreight from Shanghai to Taipei, and onward.