Our bi-weekly carrier update brings you the latest news about the new and updated sea freight services our top carriers offer on main trade routes. It also covers relevant activities the carriers announced in the past two weeks.

New & updated services on main trade lanes

Asia <-> Africa

Starting the first week of December, Maersk and CMA CGM are boosting their Far East-West Africa service FW1/WAX by increasing the vessel capacity deployed for the service to around 14,000 TEU.

The first departure will be on board the vessel Maersk Edirne with an estimated arrival at Qingdao on 5 December. The rotation of this service is: Xiamen – Qingdao - Gwangyang – Shanghai – Ningbo – Shekou – Nansha - Singapore – Tanjung Pelepas – Tema – Lekki – Abidjan – Pointe Noire – Colombo – Singapore – Xiamen.

Asia <-> North America

Israeli carrier ZIM will relaunch its Transpacific service ZEX on 20 November 2023, which was suspended in March of this year. The re-launched service will have six vessels deployed, with an average vessel capacity of 4,300 TEU. The port rotation of ZEX will be Xiamen – Yantian – Los Angeles – Xiamen, and the first vessel will be the Felixstowe.

Intra-Asia

A new intra-Asia service was launched by ONE this month, connecting Thailand with Singapore. The news TSX service deploys one 4,400 TEU vessel calling the ports Laem Chabang – Singapore – Laem Chabang.

On a larger scale, CMA CGM'S intra-Asia arm CNC upgraded the vessel capacity deployed for the Korea China Southeast Asia (KCS) to 6,000-7,000 TEU. According to Linerlytica, this makes the KCS the largest dedicated intra-Asia service alongside Maersk’s IA8.

The port rotation of the KCS is: Xingang – Dalian – Lianyungang – Qingdao – Singapore – Jakarta – Surabaya – Manila – Xingang.

Intra- Mediterranean/Black Sea

CMA CGM is terminating its GETEX service, which connects Greece to Egypt and Lebanon. The service had sailed with the following rotation: Thessaloniki – Piraeus – Limassol – Alexandria – Beirut – Limassol – Thessaloniki.

In the meantime, the carrier also revised the port rotation of two services on this trade:

• MOSHT: this service connects Morocco to Spain. A new port call will be added in Agadir, making the port rotation as follows: Casablanca – Agadir – Algeciras – Tangier – Casablanca.
• AGAPOME: the port call at Setubal on this service will be replaced with Lisbon. The new rotation starts on 21 November on board the Elbwinter and will be: Tangier – Algeciras – Vigo – Leixoes – Setubal – Lisbon – Tangier – Algeciras – Ghazaouet – Tangier.

Next month, Hapag-Lloyd will revise the port rotation of the ADX service by adding a port call at Alexandria. The service deploys three vessels with an average vessel capacity of 2,500 TEU. Following is the port rotation: Piraeus – Alexandria – Damietta – Koper – Venice – Rijeka – Ancona – Piraeus.

North Europe <-> Indian Subcontinent

As of January 2024, Maersk will revise the port rotation of the ME7 service by replacing the port call at London Gateway with Felixstowe.

Nine vessels will be deployed on the service, with an average vessel capacity of 7,800 TEU. The new port rotation is: Rotterdam – Felixstowe – Bremerhaven – Jeddah – Salalah – Colombo – Chennai – Colombo – Salalah – Algeciras – Rotterdam. The first vessel with the revised rotation will be GSL Eleni, due to depart from Rotterdam on 31 December.

North Europe <-> South America

With signs of improvement at some crossing points in Manaus, Brazil, Maersk announced partial resumption of operations by the feeder provider Aliança. Container vessel Maersk Jalan is planned to arrive in Manaus on 20 November and 2 December as part of its rotation on the ALCT3 service. The rotation of the service is: Santos – Navegantes – Salvador – Suape – Pecem – Manaus – Santos.

North Europe <-> Oceania

Last month, CMA CGM and Marfret revised the port rotation of the RTWPAN/NASP service by dropping the port call at Zeebrugge. Sea Intelligence reports that fourteen vessels were deployed on the service, with an average vessel capacity of 2,400 TEU.

The port rotation is: Rotterdam – London Gateway – Dunkirk – Le Havre – New York – Savannah – Kingston – Papeete – Noumea – Brisbane – Sydney – Melbourne – Tauranga – Manzanillo (Panama) – Savannah – Philadelphia – Rotterdam.

More in carrier news…

Several leading carriers published their financial results for the year’s third quarter this month. All of the top carriers reported a significant drop in revenues. The net earnings of China’s COSCO dropped by 95% in the third quarter, according to a report by the carrier.

Container line ZIM has recorded a $2.1bn non-cash impairment loss and now expects its 2023 operating loss to land between $400m and $600m, reports Lloyd’s List. In the same line, ONE’s profit in July-September dropped 60% from the previous quarter.

While the sea freight segment of leading carriers is going through a challenging time, other segments are flourishing.

Japanese liner ONE completed its acquisition of a 51% stake in each of TraPac and Yusen Terminals on the US West Coast and a 20% stake in Rotterdam World Gateway (RWG). Similarly, in the acquisition business, Hamburg and MSC revealed they would jointly invest EUR 450m in the port company Hamburger Hafen und Logistik (HHLA).

Peter Levesque, CMA CGM North America president and CEO, told American Shipper that it still sees demand in North America, and expressed interest in increasing investments in the United States.

“We see Savannah as being a valuable piece to the overall CMA infrastructure for how we call the United States, both in imports and exports,” said Levesque.