Hapag-Lloyd is to join the Asia-East Africa service operated by Evergreen, X-Press Feeders, COSCO and CMA CGM. Hapag-Lloyd’s initial role will be as a slot purchaser on the service, joining Ocean Network Express, Emirates Shipping, OOCL and SCI as slot purchasers.

Hapag-Lloyd will name the service the China Kenya Express (CKX); port rotation will be Shanghai, Ningbo, Shekou, Singapore, Port Kelang, Colombo, Mombasa, Colombo, Port Kelang, Singapore and Shanghai. An existing service call, both east- and westbound at Tanjung Pelepas, will not be included in the Hapag-Lloyd port coverage.

The first westbound Hapag-Lloyd sailing will be from Shanghai on August 19; the first eastbound from Mombasa on August 23.

Maersk, CMA CGM, COSCO, NileDutch and PIL are making a series of port changes on their jointly-operated Asia/West Africa service. Existing calls at Busan and Tianjin are being removed, while a new call at Kribi is being added on the service, with the first call scheduled for August 23. Deployment on the service will remain thirteen 8,500/9,200 TEU vessels.

FEW6/ASAF/WAX4/FEWA/SW3 (Loop 1) port rotation is Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, Nansha, Tanjung Pelepas, Singapore, Kribi, Pointe Noire, Luanda, Cape Town, Port Kelang, Singapore and Qingdao.