The run is China-us west coast-hawaii-Guam-Okinawa-China…5 ships, 35 day run, weekly service at each port. Jones act compliance is required for USWC-Hawaii-Guam portion. My understanding is that they get a premium rate (thus allowing them to pay their higher costs) for the China to USWC leg because of the quick turnaround time they can provide in long Beach due to their small vessels (compared to the foreign flag ships) and dedicated docks. Plus this allows the ships to be loaded on both the east bound and west bound legs.
The ships currently on that run are 3x2600, 1x2500, and 1x1600-1900 (Nassco’s fact sheet is a little vague on the Pfeiffer) TEUs. The Pfeiffer was built in 1992 and the other four from 2003-2006. The ships in the Alaska trade that I am proposing to replace were built in 1987 and will be approaching 40 years of age by the time the last of these four ex-Tote ships would be launched.