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 <-> Indian Subcontinent

Evergreen and PIL teamed to launch a new China-India service last month, for which it will deploy six ships of 2,700-5,400 TEU, according to a report by Linerlytica. The service will have a 42-day round trip and will be branded China-India Express 4 (CIX4) by Evergreen and China-Subcontinent Express (CSE) by PIL. The port rotation of this service is as follows: Shanghai - Ningbo - Shekou - Singapore - Port Klang Westport - Nhava Sheva - Mundra - Karachi - Port Klang Westport - Singapore - Haiphong – Shanghai.

Asia <-> North America

Starting in August, THE Alliance will revise its Transpacific services by changing the port rotations of the PS3, PS6 and PS7 services, and suspending the PS5 service, reports Sea Intelligence.

Below are the details of the changes: 

• PS5: This service, connecting Asia to North America West Coast, will be suspended. The current port rotation of this service is: Shanghai – Ningbo – Los Angeles – Oakland – Tokyo – Shanghai.
• PS6: This service’s port rotation will be revised effective next month. A port call at Shanghai will be added while the port call at Busan will be dropped. Six vessels will be deployed with an average vessel capacity of 10,900 TEU. The following is the port rotation: Qingdao – Shanghai – Ningbo – Long Beach – Oakland – Kobe – Qingdao.
• PS7: The port rotation of this service will also be changed in August, by adding a port call at Busan. Nine vessels are deployed on the service, with an average vessel capacity of 14,100 TEU. The port rotation is: Singapore – Laem Chabang – Cai Mep – Hong Kong – Yantian – Busan – Los Angeles – Oakland – Hong Kong – Singapore.
• PS3: This service is a pendulum service connecting Asia, the Indian Subcontinent, and North America West Coast. THE Alliance will revise the port rotation of this service in August, deploying eleven vessels with an average vessel capacity of 8,700 TEU. The revised rotation is: Nhava Sheva – Pipavav – Colombo – Port Klang – Singapore – Cai Mep – Haiphong – Yantian – Los Angeles – Oakland – Tokyo – Busan – Shanghai – Ningbo – Shekou – Singapore – Port Klang – Nhava Sheva.
• PSX: This HMM service connects Asia to North America West Coast, which Hapag-Lloyd will join the as slot charterers in August. There will be seven vessels deployed on the service, with an average vessel capacity of 10,100 TEU, says Sea Intelligence. Here is the port rotation: Shanghai – Kwangyang – Busan – Long Beach – Oakland – Busan – Kwangyang – Incheon – Shanghai.

In addition, the Ocean Alliance is changing the port calls of its HTW service this month. The carrier will drop the port call at Hong Kong Port and will deploy nine on the service, with an average vessel capacity of 12,000 TEU. Port rotation is: Taipei – Xiamen – Yantian – Los Angeles – Oakland – Taipei.

Asia <-> Oceania

Maersk’s Southern Star service will be revised by dropping the port call at Melbourne. There will be seven vessels deployed on the service, with an average vessel capacity of 6,000 TEU. The revised port rotation is: Port Chalmers – Tanjung Pelepas – Singapore – Sydney – Tauranga – Napier – Lyttelton – Port Chalmers.

Asia <-> South America

Asian liners Yang Ming, Wan Hai and PIL will revise the port rotation of the SA8/AS2/WS6 service. The new rotation will add a port call at Callao. Eight vessels are deployed on this service, with an average vessel capacity of 4,300 TEU. New port rotation is: Ningbo – Shanghai – Qingdao – Busan – Manzanillo (Mexico) – Lazaro Cardenas – Puerto Quetzal – Buenaventura – Callao – Valparaiso – Ningbo.

Intra- Mediterranean/Black Sea

French carrier CMA CGM is revising its TMX1.2 and TMX2 services as follows:

• TMX1.2: CMA CGM revised the port rotation in June adding port calls at Gebze and Djen Djen, and dropping the port call at Bejaia. The revised rotation is: Fos Sur Mer – Djen Djen – Annaba – Izmit – Gebze – Gemlik – Aliaga – Valencia – Barcelona – Fos Sur Mer.
• TMX2: The port rotation of this service replaced the port call at Algiers with Marsaxlokk. Four vessels are deployed on the service, with an average vessel capacity of 1,700 TEU. New port rotation is: Gemlik – Izmit – Istanbul – Aliaga – Salerno – Genoa – Fos Sur Mer – Marsaxlokk – Skikda – Gemlik.

In addition, the carrier will launch a new service to connect Egypt to Libya titled CMA CGM (EMED1). There will be two vessels deployed with an average vessel capacity of 1,800 TEU. The port rotation is: Port Said – Alexandria – Beirut – Mersin – Port Said.

Another service added by CMA CGM is the TURAF service connecting several ports on the Mediterranean. The port rotation of the new service is: Aliaga – Gemlik – Izmit – Istanbul – Marsaxlokk – Algiers – Aliaga.

North Europe <-> South America

In September 2023, ONE, OOCL and COSCO are launching a new service between Europe to South America East Coast. ONE will brand the service “LUX”, while COSCO and OOCL will brand it “EEX”. The number of vessels to be deployed is yet to be confirmed. The port rotation is set to be: Montevideo – Buenos Aires – Itapoa – Paranagua – Santos – Rio de Janeiro – Algeciras – Rotterdam – London Gateway – Hamburg – Antwerp – Lisbon – Algeciras – Santos – Paranagua – Montevideo.

More in carrier news…

MSC continued to expand in container capacity and sustainability solutions. A report by Shipping Watch revealed this month that the Swiss-Italian carrier is close to having a capacity that exceeds that of Maersk by 1 million TEU. This year, MSC received 19 newbuilds and 31 second-hand ships with a total capacity of approx. 500,000 TEU, according to data from Linerlytica. In June alone, over 270,000 TEU entered the sea for MSC, making it more ready to operate a large network alone after leaving the 2M Alliance in 2025.

After the IMO meeting that took place earlier this month, many shipping companies and container carriers announced more steps to decarbonise their business. This aspect of maritime shipping is attracting more attention and innovation with an aim to comply with the United Nations' and the European Union’s aspirations to reduce emissions in the industry.

One of the prominent news was Maersk taking delivery of the first-ever containership to be built to dual-fuel methanol specification from South Korea’s Hyundai Mipo Dockyard, says a report by Lloyd’s List. The 2,100 TEU vessel was ordered in July 2021 and is now set to make its first methanol-powered sail for its maiden voyage from South Korea to Copenhagen.

CMA CGM has also announced a significant investment in this arena. The French shipping company will have 100 ships that can run on either biogas or green methanol in the next few years. The delivery of the 100 ships could complete as early as 2027, says Shipping Watch. The company believes that the ships will be able to sail on fuel ”65% CO2-free,” according to the liner.