An international ocean shipping company is starting a direct Asia-Hawaii service later this month.

APL Ltd. said Friday it will launch Aloha Express (AEX), which will connect Central China, South Korea and Japan to Hawaii. The first ship, which leaves Shanghai on July 25, is scheduled to arrive in Honolulu on Aug. 13. The company is promising service to Honolulu in 19 days from Shanghai; 15 days from Busan, South Korea; and 12 days from Yokohama, Japan.

“The AEX service introduces a new sea route in our portfolio to directly serve Asia and Hawaii,” Jesper Stenbak, APL senior vice president of trans-Pacific trade, said in a statement. “Instead of routing via the U.S. mainland, shippers with Hawaiian-bound cargo will find a faster shipping alternative in the AEX service. Shipments on board the AEX service are scheduled for Sunday arrival in Hawaii for early-week cargo availability.”

APL is a subsidiary of Marseille, France-based CMA CGM, which is the world’s third-largest container shipping company. APL previously was a U.S.-owned shipping company known as American President Lines Ltd. It was sold in 1996 to Singaporean-based Neptune Orient Line and became a foreign company. Then in June 2016, CMA CGM acquired a 100 percent interest in the company.

APL said it will operate the new service with three foreign-flag containerships. The company currently operates about 90 containerships in 110 weekly shipping services that call at ports in more than 70 countries.

Aloha Express will be in direct competition with the Japanese ocean carrier Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha, which operates three smaller containerships on the same port rotation, according to Michael Hansen, president of the Hawaii Shippers Council.