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 <-> South America
CMA CGM will reshuffle its SEAS1 and SEAS2 services in May. The carrier operates these services within the Ocean Alliance.
The SEAS1 service will be dedicated to cargo in Argentina and Uruguay. The changes include removing Rio Grande, which will be serviced via Santos. In addition, Paranagua and Navegates will each be called once in the new rotation. Singapore will be removed on the westbound leg.
- Carrier service name: SEAS1
- Port rotation: Shanghai - Ningbo - Yantian - Hong Kong - Rio de Janeiro - Santos (DPW) - Navegantes - Montevideo - Buenos Aires - Paranagua - Santos (DPW) - Singapore - Hong Kong - Shanghai
- Vessel deployment: 13 vessels (1 operated by CMA CGM)
- First sailing: 10 May from Shanghai, vessel TBA
Its SEAS2 service will be dedicated to Brazilian cargo and offer calls to two ports in North China. Cargo to the Middle East and Indian Subcontinent will be transhipped in Colombo.
- Carrier service name: SEAS2
- Port rotation: Tianjin - Qingdao - Shanghai - Ningbo - Shekou - Singapore - Rio de Janeiro - Santos (SBG) - Paranagua - Itapoa - Navegantes - Santos (SBG) - Colombo - Singapore - Hong Kong - Tianjin
- Vessel deployment: 12 vessels up to an average capacity of 13,500 TEU (6 operated by CMA CGM, LNG propelled)
- First sailing: 5 May from Tianjin, vessel TBA
ZIM will enhance its ZIM Albatross (ZAT) service between Asia and the West Coast of South America in May. The changes will offer a fast connection from South China to West Coast South America. Busan will be dropped from the new rotation, and Da Chan Bay will be added to the eastbound leg.
- Carrier service name: ZAT
- Port rotation: Tianjinxingang - Qingdao - Shanghai - Ningbo - Da Chan Bay - Buenaventura - Guayaquil - Callao - San Antonio - Tianjinxingang
- First sailing: Navios Summer from Tianjin on 16 May
Asia <-> Middle East
The Ocean Alliance will revise the port rotation of its pendulum service covering Asia, Middle East and West Coast North America in early May.
It will drop Taipei and Los Angeles and add port calls in Vancouver, Dammam, Laem Chaban, Yantian, Shanghai, Ningbo, Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka. COSCO and OOCL are slot charterers on this service.
- Carrier service name: ANP (Evergreen), CMX6NWX (CMA CGM), AAS4/MEX5 (COSCO), ME4 (OOCL)
- Port rotation: Kaohsiung - Yantian - Shanghai - Ningbo - Tacoma - Vancouver - Tokyo - Nagoya - Osaka - Shanghai - Ningbo - Kaohsiung - Shekou - Port Klang - Jebel Ali - Dammam - Umm Qasr - Jebel Ali - Port Klang - Laem Chabang - Cai Mep - Kaohsiung
- Vessel deployment: 14 vessels with an average capacity of 7,200 TEU
- First sailing: Ever Superb departing Kaoshiung 9 May
Europe <-> South America
MSC and Hapag-Lloyd temporarily removed Navegantes from their joint service between North Europe and East Coast South America from mid-April. Instead, a weekly shuttle service between Navegantes and Rio de Janeiro will begin on 23 April with the Login Resilient.
- Carrier service name: NWC to SAEC String 1 (MSC), ECX - Europe East Coast Express (Hapag-Lloyd)
- Port rotation: Buenos Aires - Montevideo - Rio Grande - Paranagua - Santos - Rio de Janeiro - Salvador - Rotterdam - London Gateway - Hamburg - Bremerhaven - Antwerp - Le Havre - Sines - Rio de Janeiro - Santos - Itapoa - Buenos Aires
- First sailing: MSC Sasha departed Rio de Janeiro on 18 April
Europe <-> West Africa
Starting in week 17, Maersk will make changes to several West African services.
- WAF2 will include a call in Freetown, Sierra Leone. The revised port rotation will be Tangier – Tangier - Dakar - Freetown – Tangier.
- WAF6 will include Port Said for better coverage of the East Mediterranean and an additional call in Tema, Ghana, for West African shipments. The revised port rotation will be Tangier - Algeciras - Tema - Apapa - Tema – Tangier - Algeciras - Port Said – Tangier.
Intra-Europe
Earlier this month, CMA CGM revised its East-to-West Mediterranean service by adding Valencia and removing Algeciras.
- Carrier service name: BSMAR
- Port rotation: Tangier - Valencia - Marsaxlokk - Piraeus - Constanta - Ambarli - Gebze - Aliaga - Marsaxlokk - Valencia - Casablanca - Tangier
- First sailing: CMA CGM Aliaga sailed from Tangier on 17 April
Middle East <-> Europe
Maersk extended the coverage of its ME2 service to North Europe this month. The extended coverage will connect the western Indian Subcontinent with northern European hubs.
- Carrier service name: ME2
- Port rotation: Jebel Ali - Mundra - Jawaharlal Nehru - Port Tangiers - Algeciras - Rotterdam - Felixstowe - Bremerhaven - Port Tangiers - Salalah - Jebel Ali
- First westbound sailing: Maersk Guayaquil, ATD Jebel Ali, 20 April
- First eastbound sailing: Cap San Lazaro, ETD Rotterdam, 23 April
Export restrictions for cargo from Turkey to Israel
Turkey has restricted exports of certain commodities to Israel. Read our Sea News article for more details on the ban.
Closure of Port of Portland
The Port of Portland will cease container handling operations on 1 October due to financial difficulties. MSC currently calls this port on its Chinook service. The carrier has not announced changes to this service's rotation yet.
A new transhipment port opens in Sri Lanka
A second transhipment port began operations in Hambantota, southern Sri Lanka. The new port has already gained support from MSC, initiated by the MSC Ingrid's call on 9 April. The vessel discharged 500 containers, which were transferred to the MSC SKY II last week.
According to Lloyd's list, port operator Hambantota International Port Group, owned by China Merchants, plans to invest in further equipment and infrastructure to service large vessels on the East-West routes. The opening of the new port is expected to ease congestion in Colombo.
Hapag-Lloyd enhances its Citrus Loader service for the South African citrus season
Hapag-Lloyd has enhanced its Citrus Loader service, now called Citrus Connect, to include a direct call in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Initially, the Citrus Loader offered a weekly service from Port Elizabeth and Durban to Tangier, Morocco, where shipments would transship before heading to European, Canadian, and Mediterranean markets.
By adding a direct call in Rotterdam, cargo from Port Elizabeth and Durban would reach the European market in 21 and 25 days, respectively. Citrus Connect will run from the end of May to September, offering 700 plugs per sailing.
