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↔North America
In April 2025, two Asia - North American West Coast services operated by COSCO and OOCL will transition to an Ocean Alliance service. The Ocean Alliance has yet to disclose the vessel operators for these routes. The services with their rotations are as follows:
- Carrier service name: SEA3(COSCO), PSX(OOCL)
- Port rotation: Xiamen - Yantian - Long Beach - Kaohsiung - Xiamen
- First sailing: TBA
- Carrier service name: CPV (COSCO), PNW5(OOCL)
- Port rotation: Ningbo - Shanghai - Vancouver - Seattle - Lianyungang - Ningbo
- First sailing: TBA
Asia ↔ North Europe
As of 25 March, the Ocean Alliance will relaunch its Asia-North Europe service. COSCO and OOCL will manage the service, while CMA CGM and Evergreen will slot charter.
- Carrier service name: AEU7 (COSCO), LL3 (OOCL) (LL3), FAL7 (CMA CGM), NE7(Evergreen)
- Port rotation: Shanghai - Xiamen - Hong Kong - Yantian - Cai Mep - Singapore - Rotterdam - Hamburg - Zeebrugge - Felixstowe - Port Klang - Shanghai.
- First sailing: COSCO Shipping Himalayas, ETD Shanghai, 25 March
Asia ↔ Middle East
In mid- February, Maersk will revise the port rotation of the Safina service connecting Asia with the Middle East as follows:
- Carrier service name: Safina
- Port rotation: Singapore - Tanjung Pelepas - Salalah - Duqm - Jebel Ali - Colombo - Singapore.
- First sailing: GSL Mamitsa, ETD Ningbo, 12 February
Intra-Europe
Today, CMA CGM launched a new service to connect the Baltics.
- Carrier service name: PLX
- Port rotation: Gdansk - Kotka - Riga - Gdansk
- First sailing: JSP Mistral, ETD Gdansk, 20 January
Also this week, CMA CGM will launch a new Intra-Mediterranean service connecting Turkey and Bulgaria.
- Carrier service name: IAX1
- Port rotation: Izmit - Ambarli - Burgas - Varna - Izmit
- First sailing: Nina A, ETD Izmit, 22 January
Intra-Asia
In mid-February, Hapag-Lloyd will launch an express service to connect India with China and South Korea. This service will connect to the Gemini Shuttle Network via alliance hubs to other locations in North America and Asia. Cargo bound for North America will connect at Qingdao, China, and Busan, South Korea.
- Port rotation: Mundra - Singapore - Qingdao - Tianjin, Xingang - Busan - Mundra
- First sailing: X Press Odyssey, ETA Mundra, 16 February
Mediterranean/Black Sea ↔ North America
In February, CMA CGM, OOCL, and COSCO will expand their coverage of Italian ports on their Mediterranean—North America service. In particular. Salerno has been added to cover Southern Italy. ONE will replace its AL6 service with this service and call it AT4. The service is still pending regulatory clearance.
- Carrier service name: Amerigo (CMA CGM), AT4 (ONE), ATM1(OOCL), MENA(COSCO)
- Port rotation: Salerno - La Spezia - Genoa - Vado Ligure - Valencia - Algeciras - New York - Norfolk - Savannah - Miami - Algeciras - Salerno
- First sailing: TBA, ETD Salerno on 15 February
North Europe ↔ North America
From the mid-February, Hapag-Lloyd will offer a new rotation on its Caribbean Express Service. The carrier will add Philadelphia, and Port Everglades. Norfolk and Kingston will be removed.
- Carrier service name: CES
- Port rotation: Antwerp - London Gateway - Hamburg - Rotterdam - Antwerp - Saint John - Philadelphia - Port Everglades - Santa Marta - Puerto Limon -Caucedo - Antwerp
- First sailing: Puerto Limon Express, ETA London Gateway, 19 February
For more point-to-point service options, including transit times across major ocean carriers, refer to seaexplorer.
