53. HÃNG TÀU THỨ 53 – PAN CONTINENTAL SHIPPING (PANCON LINE)

Pan Continental Shipping traces its roots to 1969, when Dongsung Shipping was established as a shipping agency. The company entered Korea–Japan container liner services in 1981, adopted the Pan Continental Shipping name in 1983, and progressively expanded into China, Russia and Southeast Asia.

Its operating model is regional and schedule-intensive rather than global-mainline. PanCon combines owned vessels with chartered capacity and cooperative services, using relatively compact container ships suited to Northeast Asian and Southeast Asian port rotations. Vietnam has been part of the network since the mid-2010s and is now a recurring core market.

Data note: Alphaliner ranks operators by TEU capacity available on board ships actually deployed and consolidates relevant fleets. PanCon’s sustainability reporting separately discloses owned/chartered ships and annual transport volume. These measures are not interchangeable and can differ materially by snapshot.

• Korea–Japan remains a historic backbone, complemented by Korea–China and Korea–China–Japan pendulum patterns.

• Southeast Asia services extend through Vietnam, Thailand and other intra-Asia markets, with Hong Kong / South China frequently acting as intermediate calls.

• Vietnam is operationally significant enough for the carrier to publish dedicated THC and container-imbalance notices, reflecting meaningful two-way cargo and equipment flows.

PAN CONTINENTAL SHIPPING  |  VIETNAM & PRACTICAL USE

Korea–Vietnam–Thailand: PanCon opened Korea–South China–Vietnam–Thailand liner service in 2015 and added another direct Korea–Vietnam–Thailand service in 2017. The 1,785 TEU PANCON CHAMPION was specifically introduced for Hong Kong–Vietnam–Thailand deployment.

Hai Phong connectivity: PanCon began deploying its own vessel on a Korea–Hong Kong–Vietnam (Hai Phong) service in August 2020. In 2026, Port of Hai Phong also identified Pan Continental as a cooperating carrier with Dongjin Shipping and Dongyoung Shipping on a new Northeast Asia–Hai Phong service calling Tan Vu.

• Phù hợp với lô hàng Korea–Vietnam và intra-Asia khi cần direct regional call, tần suất hợp lý và không nhất thiết phải relay qua Singapore/Port Klang. Đặc biệt đáng cân nhắc cho HCMC/Hai Phong ↔ Korea/China/Hong Kong.

• Không nên chỉ nhìn tên carrier trên booking. Với joint service/slot cooperation, cần xác nhận actual vessel operator, service code, terminal và rotation thực tế; operator từng leg có thể khác PanCon dù B/L do PanCon phát hành.

• Tại Việt Nam, equipment imbalance là vấn đề thực tế: PanCon đã tăng CIC cho Korea→HCMC/Hai Phong từ 01/12/2025 vì container quay vòng chậm. Với booking cần kiểm tra availability, empty depot và return location sớm.

• Local charges thay đổi theo thời điểm. PanCon tăng HCMC THC từ 01/05/2026; do đó báo giá freight “rẻ” phải được cộng THC, CIC, DOC, DEM/DET, trucking và depot cost để so total logistics cost.

• Regional network cho transit tốt nhưng cũng nhạy với vessel substitution, skipped port và schedule recovery. Với lô hàng có deadline, cần buffer theo actual sailing history và không dựa duy nhất vào proforma ETA.

• Reefer/DG/OOG có biểu phí riêng. Với reefer cần xác nhận plug availability, PTI và cut-off; với FR/OT phải tách in-gauge và OOG vì hãng công bố mức THC khác nhau cho OOG.

Primary sources used: Pan Continental Shipping official website (history, notices, e-Service); PanCon ESG Sustainability Report 2024; BIC Registry (PCLU); Port of Hai Phong announcement dated 28 Mar 2026; Alphaliner Top 100 methodology/public page. Exact current PanCon rank/TEU row was not exposed in the public text feed at compilation time, so this handbook does not invent an exact figure.