2 Two of the world’s


Issue 1 2012


A new force on the Far East/Europe trade


biggest


container groupings have announced an alliance for the Europe/Far East trade. The Grand Alliance and the New World Alliance, which together account for six of the world’s major carriers, have agreed to create one of the largest vessel networks in the Far East-to-Europe trade lane with more than 90 ships,


covering


over 40 ports in Asia, Europe and Mediterranean. The G6 Alliance brings together


the New World Alliance members APL, Hyundai Merchant Marine, and Mitsui O.S.K Lines while Grand Alliance members are Hapag- Lloyd, Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) and Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL). The G6 Alliance is scheduled


to begin operations by April 2012 with seven joint services between


Asia and Europe and two to the Mediterranean, along with a direct Far East-Baltic service. A total of nine service loops will be offered, five of which will serve Southampton and one Thamesport. Routes include a non- stop service from Southampton to Salalah, Jebel Ali, Singapore, Pusan and Dalian (Loop 2), direct from Shanghai, Ningbo, South China and Singapore to Southampton (Loop 4), direct from Kaohsiung, Xiamen, South China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Colombo to Southampton (Loop 6) and direct from Southampton to Tangier, Port Said, Singapore, South China and Qingdao (Loop 7). The Thamesport service (Loop 5) covers Kwangyang, Pusan, Shanghai, South China and Singapore. In a statement the lines said: “This is a milestone agreement


that significantly improves service coverage in the Asia-Europe market. We will offer sailing frequencies and direct coverage that compete with anyone in the market. The extensive port coverage, frequent sailings and very attractive transit times make the nine services a unique product with the best and most comprehensive set of connections on offer for all shippers in the Far East-Europe/Mediterranean trade.” The


new grouping would


compete direct with Maersk’s new ‘Daily service from the Far East to Europe.


* Independently of the new G6


grouping, The New World Alliance is to launch a third dedicated Trans- Atlantic service. Port rotation of the AEE service is Manzanillo (Panama), Charleston, New


York, Rotterdam, Bremerhaven, Felixstowe, New York, Charleston, and Manzanillo. The Alliance will deploy 3,200teu ships with a large reefer capacity – three of them from APL and one each from HMM and MOL. First westbound sailing from


Rotterdam is 29 February and eastbound on 5 March. Earlier, Hamburg Süd, Zim and


Grand Alliance members Hapag- Lloyd, NYK and OOCL said they were upgrading their Europe/East Coast North America service with four 5,400teu vessels replacing four 3,700teu ships. As hitherto, Hamburg Süd and ZIM will each provide one vessel and the Grand Alliance two. The weekly fixed-day service calls at Southampton, then New York, Norfolk and Charleston returning via Rotterdam, Hamburg and Le Havre.


CMA CGM to merge services with MSC...


Swiss-Italian MSC and France’s CMA CGM, respectively the second- and third-largest container lines in the world have signed a broad- based operating partnership. The deal between the two companies spans several trades including Asia/Northern Europe, all south American markets and Asia/ Southern Africa. As well as creating one of the


world’s biggest container operators, the merger aims to improve performance and service quality and raise operating performance. On some trades, it will also enable the lines to deploy the best ships, while increasing the number of ports of call and frequency of


sailings. In an interview, vice president of


MSC, Diego Aponte, said he would welcome other operators to join the new group. The announcement came as


CMA CGM announced its third- quarter figures for 2011, in which it said that the global economic environment remained challenging and that there was still overcapacity in the market. The Group implemented a vigorous action plan last September to reduce full- year costs by $400 million, which will deliver its full impact in 2012. CMA CGM will reorganise its


Asia-North Europe services from early April 2012. The FAL 1 service


will continue to be operated by 11 13,800teu CMA CGM vessels, from Ningbo, Shanghai, Nansha, Hong Kong, Chiwan, Yantian and Vung Tau to Southampton, return via northwest Continent and Malta to Korfakkan, Port Kelang, Singapore, Yantian, Ningbo. Two other routes serving the UK


will be operated by MSC vessels only. They are: FAL 6, with 11 14,000teu vessels from Dalian, Xingang, Kwang


Yang, Pusan, Qingdao,


Ningbo, Shanghai, Singapore, Port Kelang to Felixstowe north-west Continent and Southampton to Valencia, Jebel Ali, Singapore, Hong Kong and Dalian; and FAL 7 with 11 vessels of 14,000 TEU from Ningbo,


Shanghai, Xiamen, Chiwan, Yantian, Sines, and northwest Continent to Felixstowe, return via Gioia Tauro to Singapore, Chiwan, Xiamen and Ningbo. The FAL 3 route from China to


north-west Europe no longer serves Southampton. Later, on 31 January, CMA


CGM announced a new tripartite agreement with CSCL and UASC on the Asia - Middle East trade from 2 February. A new CIMEX 1 service will be operated jointly by CMA CGM, CSCL and UASC with seven vessels of a capacity ranging from 12,500 to 14,400 teu, one from CMA CGM, and three each for the other two partners.


...and drops Maersk sharing agreement


Maersk Line is to discontinue its vessel sharing agreement with CMA CGM from mid-February and is to add the ports of Zeebrugge, Hamburg and Le Havre to its new Daily service – though without the money-back guarantee if scheduled sailing times


are not met. However, shippers to these ports will still benefit from “the increase in reliability offered by inclusion on the Daily Maersk conveyor belt”, said the line. Vice president of the Europe service Vincent Clerc, said: “The


cancellation of the vessel sharing agreement with CMA offered us another opportunity to look at how we served customers moving cargo between Asia and North Europe. We found that without CMA we could actually offer an enhanced service


to customers in more corridors and maintain our promise on the Daily Maersk corridors.” Maersk added that since the


launch of the Daily service in October,


average on-time availability has been 99.4%. cargo


///NEWS Taiwanese


operator goes Green


Evergreen has joined other major worldwide container carriers in merging some of its services with its competitors. The Taiwanese- owned


line said it would


strengthen its cooperation with the CKYH-the Green Alliance group of operators in the Asia-Europe and Asia-Mediterranean trades from the second quarter of 2012. Although Evergreen will not


be formally joining CKYH, whose members comprise COSCO, K Line, Yang Ming and Hanjin, it said it would cooperate to provide more intensive sailings - eight service loops per week from Asian ports to Northern European base ports, and four loops from Asia to


the Mediterranean. Most ships in the 12 loops will be in the 8,000- 13,000teu range. The lines added that they “provide


would the highest


quality services to their customers with shortest transit time from major origin ports to European destinations.” More details would be released later, they added. Evergreen’s move follows the


announcement of the Maersk daily service from the Far East to North Europe and cooperation deals between CMA CGM and MSC and the creation of the ‘G6’ grouping by the Grand Alliance and the New World Alliance in December.


Hamburg Sud


restructures South America...


Hamburg Süd is to restructure its services from North Europe and Mediterranean to Central and South America West Coast as well as to North America West Coast in from February 2012. The new configuration, which subject


is to Federal Maritime


Commission (FMC) approval, will see the current Eurosal loop 2, featuring eight 1,800teu ship upgraded to an eight-vessel system of 3,500teu. As today, Hamburg Süd and Hapag- Lloyd will provide three vessels each and CMA CGM two. The service does


not serve the UK direct. Eurosal loop 1, which calls in


Tilbury, will remain unchanged and be operated by eight Panmax vessels, Hamburg Süd and Hapag- Lloyd


providing four vessels


each, serving Caucedo Cartagena, Manzanillo (Panama), Callao and Valparaiso.Hamburg Süd will also join Hapag-Lloyd in the Mediterranean – North America West Coast service (MCPS) by providing two of the ten 2,500teu vessels with 2,500 TEU nominal capacity.


...and merges with Seago in the Med


Hamburg Süd and AP Moller- Maersk’s short-sea subsidiary Seago Line are to merge four of their existing North Europe/ Eastern Med services into a single three-loop service from January 2012. The lines said the move would speed up transit times, give comprehensive port coverage and facilitate the deployment of larger vessels. The new service would also allow connections to the global liner networks of both companies. The ‘Israel Loop’ will deploy four


Seago Line vessels of 4,200teu operation


from North Europe


and Felixstowe to Alexandria and Ashdod. The ‘Levant Loop’ will be operated


with five similar size Hamburg Süd ships, from Felixstowe and north Europe to Tangier, Algeciras, Limassol, Alexandria, Port Said, Beirut, Lattakia and Mersin. Hamburg Süd will also continue


to operate its Turkey Service from Felixstowe and north Europe to Gebze, Kumport, Gemlik and Aliaga.


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