Cancelled sailings on the Asia/Europe trade during the fourth quarter are rapidly increasing because of the so-called slack season contingency adopted by the lines involved in the trade. The latest confirmation from the Asia/Europe lines is that at least 25 weekly cancellations will take place during the October/December period.

The number of cancellations, believed to be one of the most in recent years affecting the trade, has been recently increased with news that the G6 Alliance lines, (APL, Hapag-Lloyd, HMM, MOL, NYK, OOCL), are to cancel no less than 14 sailings on the Asia/North Europe trade as a result of the slack season contingency plan.

Fourth quarter G6 cancelled sailings on the trade so far look like this:

Asia/North Europe

Loop 1 – Week 53

Loop 4 – Week 42, Loop 4 – Week 46, Loop 4 – Week 50

Loop 5 – Week 43, Loop 5 – Week 47, Loop 5 – Week 51

Loop 6 – Week 42, Loop 6 – Week 46, Loop 6 – Week 50, Loop 6 – Week 1

Loop 7 – Week 42, Loop 7 – Week 46, Loop 7 – Week 49

The G6 cancellations confirmed so far amount to around 170,000 TEUs of capacity withdrawn over a 12-week period.

In addition to the G6 lines, the CKYHE Alliance (COSCO, K Line, Yangming, Hanjin, Evergreen) have confirmed they have cancelled 11 Asia/Europe sailings during the fourth quarter:

Asia/North Europe

NE7 – Week 41, NE7 – Week 51

NE8 – Week 41, NE8 – Week 43, NE8 – Week 44

Asia/Mediterranean

MD2 – Week 41, MD2 – Week 42, MD2 – Week 44, MD2 – Week 47, MD2 – Week 51

ADR – Week 41

By Paul Richardson

Sea Freight Correspondent | London