CKYHE Alliance member line Hanjin and Ocean Three lines UASC, CMA-CGM and China Shipping are planning a series of vessel and slot sharing agreements to cover the Indian sub-continent/Middle East/Mediterranean/US East coast trade.

No exact details have been revealed, but a notice has just been filed with the US Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) to cover the all-important trade route via the Suez. The filed notice specifically indicates this will be a series of agreements combining both vessel and slot charter deals.

Importantly, the new agreement brings together lines involved in the CKYHE Alliance and Ocean Three agreement.

One service that looks certain to be involved in the new agreements is the UASC/Hanjin Middle East/Indian-sub continent/USEC service known as the MINA service. From January/February 2015 there will be new calls on the MINA service at Livorno and Tangier in the Med, while the service will be extended further south on the USEC to include calls at Miami.

Mundra will also become a new port call, albeit initially on an ad hoc basis, but Algeciras will be dropped in the Med as a major north/south transhipment centre and replaced by the Tangier call.

MINA service will cover: Khorfakkan, Jebel Ali, Port Qasim, Mundra (first call Jan 11), Jeddah, Livorno (first call Jan 24), La Spezia, Genoa, Fos, Barcelona, Valencia, Tangier (first call Feb 2), New York, Norfolk, Savannah, Miami (first call Feb 17), Algeciras, Valencia, Genoa, Port Said, Jeddah, Khorfakkan.

Present deployment comprises 11 x 4,200/6,900 teu vessels, but this likely to increase to 12 vessels as the new port rotation begins.

Also in line for a possible change is CMA-CGM’s big involvement in the trade which comes via the INDAMEX service jointly operated by CMA-CGM, Hapag-Lloyd, APL, OOCL and NYK, but on this service, the Middle East is only covered in the eastbound direction.

INDAMEX port rotation: Karachi, Nhava Sheva, Mundra, Damietta, New York, Norfolk, Savannah, Charleston, Port Said, Jeddah, Karachi.

For China Shipping, this will be a new trade in the service network portfolio.

– Paul Richardson