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 & updated services
Asia↔Africa
CMA CGM launches the West Africa Express 1 (WAX1) Far East-West Africa 1 (FEW1) starting 02.04.2026. The service deploys 13 vessels with an average vessel capacity of approx. 13,000–16,000 TEU, plus an additional 16 vessels with capacities starting from approx. 8,000 TEU.
- Carrier service name: West Africa Express 1 (WAX1)
- Port rotation: Qingdao - Ningbo - Shekou - Nansha - Singapore - Colombo - Abidjan - Lekki - Kribi - Colombo - Cai Mep - Qingdao
- First sailing: 02 Apr 2026
Asia↔Mediterranean/Black Sea
MSC has launched a new service connecting Asia to the Mediterranean with an average vessel capacity of 9,000 TEU. The first vessel departed from Ningbo on 1 April.
- Carrier service name: Phoenix
- Port rotation: Ningbo - Shanghai - Shekou - Singapore - Iskenderun - Trieste - Koper - Rijeka - Aliaga - Singapore - Busan - Ningbo.
- First sailing: 01 Apr 2026
Carrier CMA CGM is progressively reinstating Red Sea and Suez Canal routings across parts of its network. In addition to the OCR service, connecting Japan, China and the North of Europe, the carrier has two other services with planned transits through the Suez Canal, namely the MEDEX and the PHOEX services.
Asia↔North America
Ocean Alliance revises the port rotation of Transpacific service. The service drops calls at Haiphong, Ningbo, Yokohama and Miami and adds calls at Kobe and Jacksonville, and it will deploy thirteen vessels with an average vessel capacity of 9,000 TEU. The first vessel with the revised rotation will depart from Vung Tau on 4 May.
- Carrier service name: CBX
- Port rotation: Vung Tau - Yantian - Shanghai - Busan - Kobe - Norfolk - Charleston - Savannah - Jacksonville - Vung Tau.
- First sailing: 04 May 2026
CMA CGM launched the Pearl AS1 Pendulum Service (PEARLAS1) starting 30.03.2026. The service deploys 14 vessels with an average vessel capacity of approx. 8,000–11,400 TEU, plus an additional 6 vessels with capacities starting from approx. 2,100 TEU.
- Carrier service name: Pearl AS1 Pendulum Service (PEARLAS1)
- Port rotation: Haiphong - Xiamen - Nansha - Yantian - Los Angeles - Kwangyang - Qingdao - Shanghai - Ningbo - Shekou - Singapore - Nhava Sheva - Mundra - Karachi - Colombo - Singapore
- First sailing: 30 Mar 2026
MSC to revise the port rotation of the Empire service. The change involves removing Qingdao from the rotation and replacing Jacksonville and Miami with Norfolk and Port Everglades to reduce congestion exposure and improve schedule reliability.
- Carrier service name: Empire
- Port rotation: Shanghai – Ningbo – Busan – New York – Baltimore – Norfolk – Port Everglades – Rodman – Shanghai.
- First sailing: 25 May 2026
MSC to revise the port rotation of the Amberjack service. The update adds Qingdao as the first port of loading, removes Yantian and Xiamen, and replaces the Norfolk call with Jacksonville to improve transit times and optimise port coverage.
- Carrier service name: Amberjack
- Port rotation: Qingdao – Ningbo – Shanghai – Busan – Manzanillo – Cartagena – Charleston – Savannah – Jacksonville – Kingston – Busan – Qingdao.
- First sailing: 20 May 2026
MSC to revise the port rotation of the Emerald service. The change replaces the Kaohsiung call with Xiamen as the last Asian port, enabling a direct service from Xiamen to the US East Coast.
- Carrier service name: Emerald
- Port rotation: Singapore – Vung Tau – Haiphong – Yantian – Xiamen – Kingston – Charleston – Savannah – New York – Boston – Singapore.
- First sailing: 16 May 2026
Indian Subcontinent↔Middle East
Maersk/CMA CGM to temporarily revise the port rotation of ISC/MEA-West Africa service. The service drops the port call at Jebel Ali and changes frequency from weekly to fortnightly, and it deploys five vessels with an average vessel capacity of 5,700 TEU. The first vessel with the temporary rotation will depart from Mundra on 13 April.
- Carrier service name: MESAWA
- Port rotation: Mundra - Nhava Sheva - Pointe Noire - Tema - Apapa - Cape Town - Port Elizabeth - Mundra.
- First sailing: 13 Apr 2026
Intra-Asia
Maersk launches the Intra Asia 4 (IA4) service starting 30.03.2026. The average vessel capacity of this service is approx. 3,500 TEU.
- Carrier service name: Intra Asia 4 (IA4) service
- Port rotation: Pelepas - Jakarta - Tanjung Pelepas - Batangas - Nansha - Hong Kong - Busan - Xingang
- First sailing: 30 Mar 2026
Intra-Europe
ONE launches the Iberia Baltic Express (IBX) service starting 18.05.2026. The number of ships and average capacity of this service will be 4 vessels with approx. 1,800–1,000 TEU.
- Carrier service name: Iberia Baltic Express (IBX)
- Port rotation: Leixoes - Lisbon - Southampton - Bremerhaven - Rotterdam - Gdansk
- First sailing: 18 May 2026
Hapag‑Lloyd revises the port rotation of the PGS service. The change adds a new call at Bremerhaven, redesigns the service, and includes a renaming of the service to Poland Germany Express (PGX).
- Carrier service name: PGX
- Port rotation: Hamburg – Bremerhaven – Wilhelmshaven – Gdynia – Hamburg.
- First sailing: 22 Apr 2026
Mediterranean/Black Sea↔Africa
ONE/HMM to launch a new Mediterranean-West Africa service. The number of ships and average capacity of this service will be 5 vessels with approx. 2,700 TEU.
- Carrier service name: MAM/MAX2
- Port rotation: Algeciras - Tangier - Dakar - Tema - Lekki - Abidjan - Algeciras.
- First sailing: 01 Jul 2026
South America↔North Europe
ONE to revise the port rotation of the Latin East Coast Europe Express (LUX) service. The change permanently removes the Felixstowe call and the southbound calls at Paranagua from the service.
- Carrier service name: LUX
- First sailing: 06 May 2026
For more point-to-point service options, including transit times across major ocean carriers, refer to seaexplorer.
