by Priya Radünzel, SeaNewsEditor

Container shipping companies 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 & revised services

Asia↔Africa

At the beginning of March, ONE/OOCL/ZIM and COSCO revised two of their services connecting Asia with West Africa as follows:

On the service from China into West Africa, the carriers removed Cotonou and added a call in Onne.

• Carrier service name: WA1 (ONE). WAF1(OOCL), FAX(ZIM), WAX1(COSCO)
• Port rotation: Shanghai - Ningbo - Nansha - Singapore - Port Kelang - Apapa - Tincan - Onne - Tema - Lome - Port Kelang - Singapore - Shanghai
• First sailing: Seasmile, ETA Shanghai, 3 March

On their service covering Abidjan, the call in Onne was dropped, and calls in Lekki and Cotonou were added.

• Carrier service name: SW2
• Port rotation: Qingdao - Shanghai - Ningbo - Xiamen - Nansha - Singapore - Abidjan - Tema - Apapa - Lekki - Cotonou - Abidjan - Singapore - Qingdao
• First sailing: Sparrow, ETA Qingdao, 1 March

Asia↔North America

In February, Maersk joined APL's EX1 service on a slot charter basis. This service links South Korea, Japan and China with the US West Coast.

• Carrier service name: EX1
• Port rotation: Busan - Los Angeles - Oakland - Yokohama - Naha - Busan - Qingdao - Shanghai - Busan
• First sailing: President Monroe, ATD Busan, 11 February

From the end of March, the Gemini Cooperation will call Charleston before Savannah on their Asia to US East Coast service via the Panama Canal.

• Carrier service name: US1 (Hapag-Lloyd), TP11(Maersk)
• Port rotation: Haiphong - Ningbo - Shanghai - Lazaro Cardenas - Charleston - Savannah- New York - Singapore
• First sailing: Maersk Sydney, ETA Charleston, 26 March

MSC announced it would suspend its Mustang service and revise the port rotations of its Chinook and Orient services in March. This suspension will reduce the number of MSC's weekly transpacific sailings from five to four. The changes to the Orient and Chinook services are as follows:

The carrier will add calls in Busan and Portland on the Orient service.

• Carrier service name: Orient
• Port rotation: Qingdao – Ningbo – Shanghai – Busan – Long Beach – Oakland – Portland – Busan
• First sailing: TBA

On the Chinook service, MSC will add a call in Ningbo.

• Carrier Service Name: Chinook
• Port Rotation: Vung Tau – Haiphong – Yantian – Ningbo – Shanghai – Qingdao – Busan – Seattle – Prince Rupert – Vancouver – Busan
• First Sailing: TBA

Europe↔Africa

CMA CGM added a new loop to its European and North African services in mid-February. The ALGA 2 covers the Algerian market, offering direct connections from Barcelona and Valencia.

• Carrier service name: ALGA2
• Port rotation: Barcelona - Valencia - Alger - Barcelona
• First sailing: Cirta, ATA Barcelona 13 February

In late February, CMA CGM and Marguisa revised the port of rotation on their EURAF4 service by adding a weekly call in Onne and a monthly port call in Takoradi. The call in Libreville will be removed from the rotation in March.

• Carrier service name: EURAF4
• Port rotation: Kribi - Onne - Takoradi (monthly) - Valencia - Algeciras - Tangier - Lome - Bata - Malabo - Kribi
• First sailing: Atlantica Pioneer, ATD Takoradi, 23 February

Intra Europe

From mid-March, Hapag-Lloyd will launch a weekly service connecting Portugal and Spain with hub port Tangier. The carrier notes that this service connects with the Cross Med Express in Tangier, to Turkey and East Mediterranean ports.

• Carrier service name: Portugal Tangier Express (PTX)
• Port rotation: Tangier - Lisbon - Vigo - Leixoes - Tangier
• First sailing: GFS Saphire, ETA Tangier, 17 March

At the end of March, Hapag-Lloyd will discontinue its North Sea Poland Express (NPX) service, replacing it with three Baltic services as follows:

• Carrier service name: Poland Express (PEX)
• Port rotation: Hamburg - Gdynia - Klaipeda - Gdynia - Hamburg
• First sailing: Songa Panther, ETA Hamburg, 29 March

• Carrier service name: Baltic Express (BAX)
• Port rotation: Wilhelmshaven - Hamburg - Helsinki - Muuga - Rauma - Wilhelmshaven
• First sailing: Empire, ETA Wilhelmshaven, 24 March

• Carrier service name: Poland Germany Shuttle (PGS)
• Port rotation: Bremerhaven - Wilhelmshaven - Gdynia - Bremerhaven
• First sailing: Adams, ETA Bremerhaven, 25 March

For more point-to-point service options, including transit times across major ocean carriers, refer to seaexplorer.