South Korea's SM Line, launched in 2016 with the inauguration of sailings by the 1,100TEU container ship SM Tokyo, expects to have 30 vessels in operation by the start of 2018. It took delivery of three 6,500TEU ships in March, followed by three larger 8,600TEU vessels in April, extending services to China, India and the US West Coast. Owned by South Korea's Samra Midas (SM) Group, the new carrier joined forces with Gold Star Line, Regional Container Lines, TS Line and Korea Marine Transport Line last month to establish a new service to the Middle East and Pakistan. Woo Oh-hyun, chairman of SM Group, said the company now plans to expand the line's fleet capacity to 200,000TEU by next year and extend its operations to the US east coast and South America using profits from its Woobang Engineering & Construction company, a major builder of housing in South Korea, which is being merged into KS Line along with the previously acquired bulk carrier operator Korea Shipping Corporation.
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