Carriers adjust their services in response to market dynamics and operational hurdles. Stay informed of upcoming changes with Kuehne+Nagel's carrier service update, published bi-weekly on Sea News and seaexplorer
New & updated services
Africa - North Europe
Hapag-Lloyd announced it would discontinue its MWX service and replace it with a revamped Europe-West Africa service and West Africa Express service.
- Carrier service name: WWA
- Port rotation: Antwerp - Le Havre - Lisbon - Tanger Med - Tema - Pointe Noire - Luanda - Libreville - Antwerp
- First sailing: Dachan Bay Express V from Belgium on 24 March
- Carrier service name: WAX
- Port rotation: Tanger Med - Dakar - Apapa - Tincan - Cotonou - Abidjan - Tema - Tanger Med
- First sailing: Vancouver Star V arriving in Tanger Med on 21 April
Mediterranean/Black Sea - South America
Due to operational challenges at Brazilian ports, Maersk and CMA CGM announced the temporary drop of the southbound call at Rio de Janeiro on their service between the Mediterranean and East Coast South America.
The suspension will be from mid-March to July (date to be confirmed).
- Carrier service name: Neo Bossa Nova (Maersk), Sirius (CMA CGM)
- Port rotation: Algeciras - Tanger - Salvador - Santos - Itapoa - Paranagua - Santos - Itaguai - Tanger - Algeciras
- First sailing: Maersk Leon, arriving in Rio de Janeiro on 14 July
On 20 March, Hapag-Lloyd revised the port rotation on its Mediterranean-South America West Coast service by adding Vigo and Salerno and removing Tangier. The details are as follows:
- Carrier service name: MSW
- Port rotation: Malaga - Valencia - Civitavecchia - Salerno - Genoa - Livorno - Barcelona - Caucedo - Cartagena - Buenaventura - Paita - Posorja - Guayaquil - Manzanillo - Puerto Limon - Cartagena,- Vigo - Malaga
- First sailing: Irenes Remedy from Buenaventura on 20 March
Asia - Indian Subcontinent
CMA CGM and COSCO will temporarily suspend their service between Asia and the Indian Subcontinent in March. It will relaunch the service in May.
- Carrier service name: AS2
- Port rotation: Colombo - Mundra - Nhava Sheva - Singapore - Shanghai - Ningbo - Shekou - Singapore - Colombo
- Last sailing: COSCO New York from Colombo on 7 March
- First sailing: TBA from Colombo on 6 May
Intra Asia
ONE added a port call in Subic Bay to the port rotation of its service, which connects Northeast and Southeast Asia.
- Carrier service name: CTP
- Port rotation: Laem Chabang -Cai Mep - Manila - Subic Bay - Qingdao - Busan - Shanghai - Laem Chabang
- First sailing: Marina One from Laem Chabang on 18 March
In addition, ONE will revise the port rotation on two services connecting South Korea and Japan. It will add Nagoya to one service and replace Nagoya with Moji and Hakata on the other.
- Carrier service name: JK1
- Port rotation: Busan - Shimizu - Tokyo - Nagoya - Busan
- First sailing: Confidence from Busan 28 March
- Carrier service name: JK2
- Port rotation: Busan - Moji - Kobe - Osaka - Hakata - Busan (Nagoya removed)
- First sailing: Consilia from Busan on 26 March
Intra-Middle East
CMA CGM will join forces with Folk Maritime, a feeder and short-sea shipping company, to upgrade its North Red Sea Express service. The service will connect three Saudi Arabian ports with Egypt and Jordan. In Jeddah, the service will call at the Red Sea Gate Terminal (RSGT) and DP World Jeddah (DPW Jeddah).
- Carrier service name: NRX
- Port rotation: Jeddah RSGT - Jeddah DPW - NEOM - Sokhna - Aqaba - Yanbu - Jeddah RSGT
- First sailing: Jin Shun He from Jeddah on 9 April
Intra-Europe
ONE will launch a new service in May, connecting Germany with Scandinavia.
- Carrier service name: SBX
- Port rotation: Wilhelmshaven – Hamburg – Fredericia – Gdynia – Wilhelmshaven
- Vessel deployment: 1 vessel - average capacity to be announced
- First sailing: vessel yet to be named, first sailing on 20 May
ONE is also revising the port rotation of a North Europe-Mediterranean service by dropping a port call in Gdynia and adding two other calls.
- Carrier service name: IBC
- Port rotation: Leixoes – Lisbon – London Gateway – Rotterdam – Gothenburg – Aarhus – Copenhagen – Helsingborg – Antwerp – Rotterdam – Leixoes.
- Vessel deployment: 4 vessels with an average capacity of 1,500 TEU
- First sailing: Penang Bridge from Leixoes on 12 May
Transatlantic
Next month, MSC will revise a Transatlantic service, connecting North Europe to North America's East Coast and Central America/Caribbean.
- Carrier service name: Ecuador NWC & Scanbaltic USA
- Port rotation: Cristobal – Puerto Moin – Antwerp – Rotterdam – Bremerhaven – Klaipeda – Gdynia – Gothenburg – Hamburg – Antwerp – Felixstowe – Le Havre – Boston – New York – Philadelphia – Norfolk – Jacksonville – Freeport – Rodman – Guayaquil – Puerto Bolivar – Guayaquil – Paita – Cristobal
- Vessel deployment: 11 vessels with an average capacity of 5,700 TEU
- First sailing: MSC Arushi R from Cristobal on 31 March
Transpacific
THE Alliance will relaunch two transpacific services this April, which were suspended in November-December last year.
- Carrier service name: PN3
- Port rotation: Hong Kong - Haiphong - Yantian - Shanghai - Busan - Vancouver - Tacoma - Busan - Kaohsiung - Hong Kong
- Vessel deployment: 8 vessels with an average capacity of 12,750 TEU
- First sailing: HMM Aquamarine from Hong Kong on 19 April
- Carrier service name: EC4
- Port rotation: Kaohsiung - Xiamen - Yantian - Cai Mep - Singapore - Norfolk - Savannah - Charleston - New York - Singapore - Kaohsiung
- Vessel deployment: 13 vessels with an average capacity of 13,950 TEU
- First sailing: YM Warmth from Kaohsiung on 16 April
Maersk will relaunch its service to cover the Greater China Area and the US East Coast via the Panama Canal in mid-April.
- Carrier service name: TP20
- Port rotation: Qingdao - Shanghai - Yantian - Newark - Baltimore - Houston - Qingdao
- First sailing: Maersk Wallis from Qingdao on 21 April
Services to Haiti
CMA CGM announced it has suspended calls to Port au Prince due to the civil unrest.
"Located 20km from Port au Prince, Lafito remains served by our weekly service CAGEMA 2, operated with CMA CGM-owned vessels," advised the carrier.
" For the northern part of Haiti, CMA CGM will continue calling at Cap Haitien as usual."
On the other hand, Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk announced earlier this month a booking stop for cargo to Haiti.
Ocean Alliance Day 8 - Network offerings in 2024
Following the renewal of their partnership for another five years, the Ocean Alliance members - CMA CGM Group, COSCO Shipping, Evergreen and OOCL - announced their 2024 product offering.
According to the announcement by CMA CGM, the DAY 8 Product, beginning in April 2024, will take routing around the Cape of Good Hope into account.
"Due to the unstable situation in the Red Sea, ships must be routed through the Cape of Good Hope, disrupting supply chains. CMA CGM and its partners are stepping up coordination and adapting the rotations of the DAY 8 Product."
The carrier adds that these changes will maintain the alliance's high visibility, reliability, and punctuality standards.
According to analysts, the following changes to services can be expected :
- Transpacific: The number of services remains unchanged at 20, comprised of 8 serving the Pacific Southwest, 4 serving the Pacific Northwest, and 8 serving the US East and Gulf coasts.
There will be port rotation changes to some services serving these regions.
- Transatlantic: The alliance will continue to offer two services on this trade, which will remain unchanged.
- Asia-North Europe: The number of services has been reduced from 7 to 6. The seaexplorer ASEU 0027 covers the individual carrier services that will be removed from the portfolio.
- Asia- Mediterranean: The alliance will continue to offer 4 services; however, it will significantly change the port rotations.
The port rotation and service changes will be visible in seaexplorer when individual vessel schedules operating on these services become available.
