Top alliances come to agreement on China-north Europe trade

THE Grand Alliance (Hapag-Lloyd/NYK/OOCL) and New World Alliance (APL/MOL/HMM) have agreed to scrap their joint arrangement on the China-North Europe trade at the end of July.

The existing Loop D/CEX will be divided into two individual loops, a move that will add 6,400 TEU weekly to the trade.

A report by Alphaliner said the joint D/CEX Loop was launched this March and is operated using 10 ships ranging in size from 5,700-7,500 TEU ships, five of which were provided by each of the alliances.

The new Loop D will be fully operated by the Grand Alliance deploying 10 ships of the same size as before, enabling the "Grand Alliance to bring back to four the number of individual loops it operates between Far East and North Europe, as it was until December 2009 when the former EU4 was closed. The new Loop D will have a slightly different rotation from EU4, with the extension of the loop to Busan," Alphaliner said.

The service is scheduled to make its first voyage on July 25, departing from Busan.

As for the New World Alliance, the new CEX also brings back to four the number of individual loops that the group operates between the Far East and north Europe, returning it to the situation before November 2008 when the CEX and SCX services were merged within a single loop (SCX/CEX).

The CEX is expected to deploy ten 6,400-TEU vessels, with nine provided by APL and one by MOL. The first sailing will be from Qingdao on July 26.

The CEX will stop calling at the ports of Hamburg and Shenzhen-Shekou, which have been replaced by new calls at Antwerp and Hong Kong. The SCX will thus remove the port of call at Zeebrugge from its rotation.

In other news, CSAV plans to raise its volumes on the Far East-South Africa trades through the commencement of a dedicated service, the New Discovery, deploying seven 2,500-TEU containerships.

"CSAV is currently serving both the Far East-South Africa trade and the South Africa-ECSA trade through calls at Durban with its Far East-ECSA service (ASAX), from which these calls will be removed, freeing up space for the Far East-ECSA trade," said Alphaliner.

The first southbound sailing on the New Discovery is scheduled for the Hammonia Pomerenia on July 28, departing from Xingang.
(Source:www.schednet.com)