China Shipping (CSCL) will complete its own capacity upgrade of the joint CSCL/UASC AEX1/AEC1 service with 19,100 teu vessels by mid-April. The capacity upgrade of this service will go down as one of the biggest undertaken on the Asia/North Europe trade in the space of just six months.

The fourth and fifth vessels in the 19,100 teu series, CSCL Indian Ocean and CSCL Arctic Ocean, will phase in on the AEX1/AEC1 at Qingdao on April 3 and April 17 and, by that time, Ocean Three partner CMA-CGM will have joined the service to market it as the FAL8.

In November, the AEX1/AEC1 operated with 11 x 8,500/10,000 teu vessels providing an average weekly capacity of 9,400 teu. By the end of April, that weekly capacity figure will have almost doubled; the moves make it one of the largest capacity upgrade programmes undertaken on the Asia/Europe trade in such a short space of time.

CSCL Globe, the first of the five 19,000 teu CSCL newbuildings, phased in at Qingdao on December 4, while the second, CSCL Pacific Ocean is expected to phase in on December 26.

The third 19,100 teu vessel, CSCL Atlantic Ocean, is expected to become operational during January/February.

Port coverage of the AEX1/AEC1/FAL8 under Ocean Three will be: Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, Yantian, Port Kelang, Felixstowe, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Zeebrugge, Rotterdam, Port Kelang, Yantian, Qingdao.

UASC’s capacity upgrade on the AEX1/AEC1/FAL8 service with 14,000+ teu vessels will also move a step further in December when the first of 11 x 14,990 teu newbuildings, Sajir, phases in, followed by the second, Salahuddin, in mid-February.

– Paul Richardson