Grand Alliance: MISC's departure will not hurt service

THE departure of Grand Alliance member MISC from the consortium's Europe-Asia trade routes it shared Hapag-Lloyd, OOCL and NYK, will not affect sailing frequencies, transit times or service structures, the group said.

Nothing will change for our customers. They will continue to receive the customarily reliable service of the Grand Alliance partner lines in the future, said Hapag-Lloyd, OOCL and NYK in a joint statement.

The withdrawal of Malaysian shipping line MISC Berhad from services between Europe, including the Mediterranean trades, and the Far East will take effect from January 1.

MISC does not operate with the Grand Alliance on the transpacific or transatlantic trades.

We greatly regret that MISC as a founding member of the Grand Alliance is withdrawing, but respect its decision, said the joint statement from the group's members.

The fleet deployed by the Grand Alliance that was established in 1998 comprises about 140 vessels with capacities of between 2,900 and 9,000 TEU. MISC has so far provided seven ships. We will be replacing these in the context of our normal cascading, said the group's statement.

Source: http://www.schednet.com