Zim, Grand Alliance augment partnership

Israeli ocean carrier Zim said Tuesday it is suspending its transpacific APX service and will buy slots on two Grand Alliance services to the U.S. Pacific Northwest to fulfill port coverage lost on the APX.

 As a second part of the suspension of the APX, Zim said it would add three ships of 8,000 to 10,000 TEUs to the alliance’s services in July.

Earlier this week, Grand Alliance carriers NYK Line, OOCL, Hapag-Lloyd and MISC Berhad said they were terminating an Asia/Black Sea service and would buy slots on a similar Zim service, so Zim's move on Tuesday seems to be an escalation of a partnership between the Grand Alliance and Zim.

The two services on which Zim will buy slots are:

• The NWX, which has a rotation of Ningbo, Shanghai, Qingdao, Busan, Seattle, Vancouver, Tokyo, Nagoya, Kobe and Ningbo.

• The PNX, which has a rotation of Singapore, Laem Chabang, Shekou, Hong Kong, Kaohsiung, Vancouver, Seattle, Busan, Kaohsiung, Hong Kong, Shekou and Singapore.

Source: American Shipper