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

Asia <-> Middle East Africa

CMA CGM and Maersk annouced they will revamp services between India Middle East Gulf to and from South Africa, East Africa and Indian Ocean this month.

• Carrier service name: MIDAS 1 (CMA CGM) MESAWA (Maersk)
• Changes: Coega will be added to the service to accommodate the citrus season.
• Port rotation: Jebel Ali - Mundra - Nhava Sheva - Pointe Noire - Tema - Apapa - Capetown - Coega - Jebel Ali
• Vessel deployment: 10 vessels with a nominal capacity of up to 5,700 TEU
• First sailing: CMA CGM Kribi, ETA Coega 5 May

• Carrier servicen name: MIDAS 2 (CMA CGM); Protea (Maersk)
• Changes: Pointe des Galets and Port Elizabeth will be removed. CMA CGM wil call Pointe des Galets on its new KARIBU service. Both carriers will offer Port Elizabeth on a weekly basis via Durban through dedicated feeder
• Port rotation: Jebel Ali - Mundra - Nhava Sheva - Durban - Jebel Ali
• Vessel deployment: 7 vessels with a nominal capacity of up to 2,800 TEU
• First sailing: CMA CGM Valparaiso ETA Jebel Ali 22 April and ETA Durban 14 May

• Carrier servicen name: KARIBU (CMA CGM's new service replacing HAX service)
• Port rotation: Jebel Ali - Mombasa - Longoni - Pointe des Galets - Mombasa - Mogadishu - Jebel Ali
• Vessel deployment:  6 vessels with a nominal capacity of up to 1,700 TEU
• First sailing: CMA CGM Kailas, ETA Jebel Ali 12 May

The Ocean Alliance revised the port rotation of its Asia - Middle East service at the end of April by dropping the port call at Sohar.

• Carrier servicen name: CIMEX1
• Port rotation: Singapore - Abu Dhabi - Jebel Ali - Hamad - Dammam - Singapore - Qingdao - Ningbo - Shekou - Singapore
• First sailing: CMA CGM Tanya departed Singapore on 20 April

Unifeeder, Mihaha, CU-Lines and Sinokor will launch a new service between China and the UAE starting mid May as follows:

• Carrier servicen name: China Gulf Express (Unifeeder), Milaha Gulf Express (Milaha), CGX (CU Lines), CGE (Sinokor)
• Port rotation: Shanghai - Ningbo - Shekou -Jebel Ali
• Vessel deployment: 5 vessle with a nominal capacity of 2,700-3,000 TEU
• First sailing: Celsius Essen, ETD Shanghai 20 May

Asia <-> North America

THE Alliance revised the rotation of its Transpacific PN2 service following the reinstatement of the PN3 service on 19 April.

• Carrier service name: PN2 (revised from 10 April 2024)
• Changes: Rotation shortened by removing eastbound calls at Haiphong, Shanghai, Busan and westbound calls at Kaohsiung and Hong Kong
• Port rotation: Singapore, Laem Chabang, Cai Mep, Yantian, Tacoma, Vancouver, Tokyo, Kobe, Singapore
• Vessel deployment: 9 ships of 10,000 to 12,700 teu on a

• Carrier service name: PN3 (re-instated on 19 April)
• Port rotatation: Hong Kong, Haiphong, Yantian, Shanghai, Busan, Vancouver, Tacoma, Busan, Kaohsiung, Hong Kong
• Vessel deployment: 8 ships with average capacity of 10,000 - 13,000 TEU

Asia <-> North Europe

At the end of April, the Ocean Alliance revised the port rotation on its FAL and FAL3.

• Carrier servicen name: FAL ( CMA CGM), FAL1 (Evergreen), AEU2 (COSCO), LL4 (OOCL)
• Changes: Busan and Dunkirk were removed and Tangier and Algeciras added
• Port rotation: Port Klang - Ningbo - Shanghai - Yantian - Singapore - Tangier - Le Havre - Hamburg - Gdansk - Rotterdam - Algeciras - Port Klang
• First sailing: APL Changi departed Port Klang 20 April

• Carrier servicen name: FAL3 (CMA CGM), FE9 (Hapag-Lloyd) FAL3 (Evergreen), AEU6 COSCO, LL5 (OOCL)
• Changes: Algeciras and Tangier removed and Dunkirk added
• Port rotation: Singapore - Dunkirk - Rotterdam - Southampton - Antwerp - Le Havre - Singapore - Qingdao - Shanghai - Ningbo - Yantian - Singapore
• First sailing: APL Lion City departed Singapore 26 April

Asia <-> South and Central America

CMA CGM will launch a new service connecting North China and Korea with the west coast of Mexico. Details are as follows:

• Carrier servicen name: M2X - Mexico Express
• Port rotation: Tianjin - Qingdao - Busan - Ensenada - Manzanillo - Lazaro Cardenas - Yokohama - Busan - Tianjin
• Vessel deployment: 8 Vessel, average capacity unknown
• First sailing:  ANL Wangaratta ETD Busan 11 May

MSC announced it would also launch a service between Asia and Mexico. The following details are available for this service:

• Carrier servicen name: Mexicas
• Port rotation: Qingdao - Ningbo - Shanghai - Busan - Manzanillo (Mexico) - Lazaro Cardenas - Qingdao
• Vessel deployment: Number of vessels TBA, average capacity 6,500 TEU
• First sailing: MSC Apollo ETD Qingdao 15 May

COSCO and OOCL will launched a new Asia - South America service today connecting China and Korea with Mexico.

• Carrier service name: WSA5 (COSCO) , TLP5 (OOCL)
• Port rotation: Ningbo - Shanghai - Qingdao - Ensenada - Manzanillo (Mexico) - Ensenada - Yokohama - Busan - Dalian - Ningbo
• Vessel deployment: 6 vessels with average capacity of 5,500 TEU
• First sailing: Xin Da Lian ETD Ningbo 7 May

Europe <-> Mediterranean/Black Sea

In early May, CMA CGM revised the port rotation of the EUROMAR service by dropping the port stop at Tilbury and the first port stop at Rotterdam.

• Carrier servicen name: EUROMAR
• Port rotation: Tangier - Casablanca - Agadir - Tangier - Hamburg - Rotterdam - Antwerp - Le Havre - Vigo - Tangier
• First sailing: Contship Gin departed Tangier on 4 May

Intra Mediterranean

This week, CMA CGM revised one of its East Mediterranean serices by adding a port call in Iskenderun as follows:

• Carrier servicen name: EMED2
• Port rotation:  Lattakia - Iskenderun - Beirut - Limassol - Port Said - Alexandria - Beirut - Tripoli - Tartous - Lattakia
• First sailing: Lotus departed Iskenderun on 2 May

Services to Haiti

CMA CGM has reopened its services to Lafito, Haiti. For Lafito imports via Kingston, the first vessel to call Lafito will be CMA CGM ARICA, ETA Lafito 30 May.

A booking stop remains in place from and to Port au Prince until further notice. For the northern part of Haiti, CMA CGM will continue calling at Cap Haitien.

Turkey suspends trade with Israel

On 3 May, the Turkish Government Ministry of Trade suspended all trade with Israel, effective immediately. While not all carriers have communicated the announcement on their website, Maersk advised which cargo would be affected.

According to Maersk all exports and imports between the two countries have been suspended. Additionally, Turkey has suspended all import cargo, with transshipment in Israel and all Israel-related third country cargo, with transshipment in Turkey.

Furthermore, the country has suspended all empty containers loaded from Israel or to be loaded for Israel.

"If you have a new booking that isn’t yet loaded between Israel and Turkey or to Israel via Turkey as a transshipment hub, Maersk will need to trigger a Change of Destination (COD) or cancellation in line with the above restrictions. Likewise, bookings already on the water will need to be returned to origin or discharged at nearby hubs," said Maersk in its advisory.