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.

Gemini Network to undergo 13-week phase-in before proving 90% reliability

The Gemini Cooperation will require 13 weeks to stabilise its network before having to prove a 90% reliability on its network, according to Maersk CEO Vincent Clerc

“The longest service we have is a 13-week rotation, so it will take about 13 weeks until the last ship and the full cycle of the service is working on the same network, so from February for three months we will live in a hybrid world,” Clec said reports JOC.

Clerc informed analysts last Thursday, that he expects a smooth transition from the current alliances to the Gemini network.

Once stabilised, Gemini will need to quickly demonstrate that it is capable of dramatically improving reliability across its network, he added.

Clerc remains optimistic the network can deliver on 90% reliability, noting exhaustive tests were conducted over the years to determine the efficiency of the hub-and-spoke model.

“We did not go out with that number lightly,” he said. “The core issue now is to scale this up and then we’ll have to see if there is anything that has not been tested ... but we feel confident we have tested all we could think of in terms of resilience of the product.”

More information on the phase-in process can be found on the Maersk website.

New & revised services

Asia ↔ Europe

To avoid congestion in Hamburg, Hapag-Lloyd announced it will call Wilhelmshaven instead of Hamburg on its Indian Ocean Service, starting mid-November. Details are as follows:

• Carrier service name: IOS
• Port rotation: Jebel Ali - Karachi - Nhava Sheva - Mundra Tangier - Rotterdam - Wilhelmshaven - Antwerp - London Gateway - Tangier - Jebel Ali
• First sailing from Wilhelmshaven: Frankfurt Express, ETA Wilhelmshaven 13 November
• First sailing from Hamburg: NYK Vesta, ETA Hamburg, 8 January 2025

Intra-South and Central America

Maersk will adjust its service offerings between West Coast Central America and Mexico this November. On its WCCA1 service, port calls in Lazaro Cardenas and Acajutla will be dropped. These will be covered by the new WCCA3 service. Both services will operate fortnightly.

• Carrier service name: WCCA1
• Port rotation: Balboa - Corinto - Puerto Quetzal - Balboa
• First sailing: Vessel (TBA), ETD Balboa, 17 November

• Carrier service name: WCCA3
• Port rotation: Balboa - Lazaro Cardenas - Acajutla - Balboa
• First sailing: Vessel (TBA), ETD Balboa, 24 November

Mediterranean/Black Sea ↔ North America

Starting February 2025, Maersk will launch a new direct service between northern and western Turkey and Southern Italy to the US East Coast. This service will complement the announced Gemini network also beginning in February. The service will turn around in 8 weeks.

• Carrier service name: TA10
• Port rotation: Ambarli – Izmit Korfezi – Izmir Aliaga – Salerno – Leghorn – Tangiers – Newark – Norfolk – Savannah – Port Everglades - Ambarli
• First sailing: TBA

Similarly, Gemini partner Hapag-Lloyd announced changes to two services, TEX AND AL7, connecting Turkey and Italy to the US East Coast starting in February 2025. On TEX service, a call in Port Everglades will be added, Mersin will be swapped for Istanbul, Lisbon dropped and a call in Livorno will be added. In addition, the service will call in Tangier instead of Tanger Med.

• Carrier service name: TEX
• Port rotation: Istanbul - Izmit - Aliaga - Salerno - Livorno - Tangier - New York - Norfolk - Savannah - Port Everglades - Istanbul
• First sailing: TBA

The AL7 will compliment the TEX service with a link between Turkey, Greece, Israel and the US East Coast. Alexandria and Aliaga will be dropped, Livorno and Kingston added.

• Carrier service name: AL7
• Port rotation: Mersin - Ashdod - Haifa – Piraeus - Genoa - Livorno - Barcelona - Valencia - Halifax - New York - Norfolk - Savannah - Kingston - Valencia - Barcelona - Mersin
• First sailing: TBA

North America ↔ South and Central America

In November, MSC revised the port rotation of USA to SAEC service by reintroducing Port Everglades and replacing Navegantes with Itajai.

• Carrier service name: USA to SAEC
• Port rotation: New York - Norfolk - Baltimore - Charleston - Savannah - Port Everglades - Freeport - Cristobal - Santos - Buenos Aires - Montevideo - Rio Grande - Itajai - Paranagua - Santos - Rio de Janeiro - Salvador - Colon/Cristobal - Freeport - New York
• First sailing: MSC Alma VII, ATD 3 November

North Europe ↔ South and Central America

From mid-November, Hapag-Lloyd will drop Le Havre on its South American Westcoast(SWX) service until the end of January 2025.

Cargo to Le Havre will be connected via Rotterdam, and exports from Le Havre will be connected via Hamburg.

• Carrier service name: SWX
• Port rotation: Rotterdam - London Gateway - Hamburg - Antwerp - Caucedo - Cartagena - Manzanillo (Panama) - Buenaventura - Posorja - Callao - Posorja - Manzanillo (Panama) - Cartegena - Caucedo - Rotterdam
• First sailing on new rotation: COSCO Shipping Volga 4235N/4245S, ETD Hamburg 16 November
• First sailing with Le Havre reinstated: COSCO Shipping Volga 4245N/5203S ETA in Le Havre, 25 January 2025

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