The first major move to reduce weekly capacity by the carriers involved in the Asia/Europe trades is set to get underway at the end of September. The groundbreaking, long-overdue move, set to take out unnecessary capacity from an already swamped east/west trade lane, is being initiated by the Ocean Three service network comprising CMA-CGM, UASC and China Shipping.
The capacity withdrawal initiative will see the merging of two services, and a move by the lines to maintain port coverage over additional port calls on two other services. Under the Ocean Three service Asia/Europe network, CMA-CGM, UASC and China Shipping will combine their existing FAL2/AEC8/AEX7 and the FAL3/AEC7/AEX4 services, to form a new service to be known as the FAL23 by CMA-CGM.
UASC and China Shipping are yet to disclose the service names they have chosen for this service.
Importantly, this newly formed service will remove around 12,000 TEUs of weekly capacity from the trade from late September/October onwards. In addition, there will be a new Vietnam call at Cai Mep, southeast of Ho Chi Minh City, by the lines.
The new port rotation will be Shanghai, Ningbo, Yantian, Cai Mep, Port Kelang, Le Havre, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Antwerp, Felixstowe, Rotterdam, Le Havre, Jeddah, Port Kelang and Shanghai. Deployment will be 12 x 12,000/15,000 TEU vessels, all deployed by CMA-CGM. Start date : September 28 eastbound and October 13 westbound.
In addition to the newly merged service, there will be changes to the existing O3 service structure taking place during October.
On the FAL1/AEC2/AEX3 service, there will be a new port call at Qingdao. The new port coverage will then be Tianjin, Dalian, Pusan, Qingdao, Ningbo, Shanghai, Yantian, Port Kelang, Algeciras, Southampton, Dunkirk, Hamburg, Rotterdam, Zeebrugge, Le Havre, Malta, Khorfakkan, Yantian and Tianjin.
On the FAL8/AEC1/AEX1 service, there will be a new port call at Xiamen. The new call will result in the following port coverage being provided: Shanghai, Ningbo, Xiamen, Yantian, Port Kelang, Felixstowe, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Zeebrugge, Rotterdam, Port Kelang, Yantian, Qingdao and Shanghai.
As the Asia/Europe capacity reduction for the trade’s slack season kicks in, all eyes are now on who will be next to take out unwanted capacity.
But on the other side of the capacity coin, while one grouping has removed capacity, another has brought in more capacity, although it is a move governed by a longstanding newbuilding programme initiated some three years ago. The CKYHE Alliance (COSCO, K Line, Yangming, Hanjin, Evergreen) will complete the capacity of its Asia/North Europe NE2 service with the phase in of the tenth, and last, 14,000 TEU capacity vessels destined for this service in the second half of October.
The completion will be affected with the delivery of the new 13,870 TEU Manhattan Bridge at Hong Kong on October 23, where the vessel replaces the smaller 9,040 TEU Hong Kong Bridge.
Deployment of the new vessel will then mean the NE2 service will operate with 10 x 14,000 TEU vessels, which over the past 10 months will have replaced vessels in the 8,000/9,000 TEU capacity frame, effectively increasing weekly capacity by around 40% on the service in less than a year.
The new vessels are part of a newbuilding programme initiated by Yangming and K Line for 14,000 TEU capacity vessels at Hyundai Heavy Industries and Imabari Shipbuilding, respectively.
NE2 port rotation is Hong Kong, Nansha, Kaohsiung, Yantian, Singapore, Piraeus, Rotterdam, Felixstowe, Hamburg, Antwerp, Piraeus, Singapore and Hong Kong.
By Paul Richardson
Sea Freight Correspondent | London
