The CMA CGM Group, part of the Ocean Three alliance with partners China Shipping Container Lines and United Arab Shipping Company, is to combine its FAL2 and FAL3 services into a new FAL23 service.

The new service will start in Asia on October 13, 2015, with a fleet of 12 12,000-15,000 TEU vessels carrying out the following port rotation: Shanghai – Ningbo – Yantian – Cai Mep – Port Klang – Le Havre – Rotterdam – Antwerp – Hamburg – Felixstowe – Rotterdam – Le Havre – Jeddah – Port Klang – Chiwan – Shanghai.

The line will now serve Vietnam through the Cai Mep deep sea terminal in Ho Chi Minh City.

“For the fourth quarter, CMA CGM adjusts its capacity to demand and improves significantly its services to answer clients’ needs,” said Nicolas Sartini, senior vice president of Asia-Europe trades at the CMA CGM Group. “Covering directly Vietnam proves the increasing importance of this new developing market.”

This rotation will begin in the eastbound direction on September 28, 2015, with the CMA CGM La Perouse sailing from Antwerp.

Additionally, CMA CGM is enhancing its FAL1 and FAL8 services to include calls at Qingdao and Xiamen respectively.

The FAL1 service was upgraded mid-August 2015 and is served by the line’s largest 18,000 TEU vessels – the CMA CGM Kerguelen, the CMA CGM Georg Forster, the CMA CGM Vasco de Gama and the recently delivered CMA CGM Bougainville.

The new rotation is: Tianjin – Dalian – Pusan – Qingdao – Ningbo – Shanghai – Yantian – Port Klang – Algeciras – Southampton – Dunkirk – Hamburg – Rotterdam – Zeebrugge – Le Havre – Malta – Khor Fakkan – Yantian – Tianjin.

The upgraded FAL8 service will begin on October 13, 2015, with the following port rotation: Qingdao – Shanghai – Ningbo – Xiamen – Yantian – Port Klang – Felixstowe – Rotterdam – Hamburg – Zeebrugge – Rotterdam – Port Klang – Yantian – Qingdao.