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

Africa <-> Mediterranean/Black Sea

French carrier CMA CGM announced it revised its EURAF4 service in mid-July by adding a port call at Lekki. The service has six vessels deployed with an average vessel capacity of 3,500 TEU. The revised port rotation of the service is: Lome – Lekki – Cotonou – Bata – Malabo – Kribi – Valencia – Algeciras – Tangier – Lome.

Asia <-> Indian Subcontinent

ONE and Unifeeder intend to upgrade their joint MIM/MJI service starting 27 August 2023 by adding a call at Beira. The service will be further updated on 19 September by adding a call at Nhava Sheva Port. The revised MIM/MJI port rotation will be: Jebel Ali – Mundra - Nhava Sheva – Mombasa – Beira – Maputo - Jebel Ali. According to Linerlytica, the service currently deploys three ships of 1,700-2,000 TEU with departures every 7 to 14 days.

Asia <-> North America

Sea Intelligence reports that the 2M Alliance will revise the port rotation of the TP8/Orient service starting August 2023. The service will replace the port call at Los Angeles with Long Beach. Eight vessels will be deployed on the service, with an average vessel capacity of 11,100 TEU. The revised port rotation of the service will be as follows: Qingdao – Shanghai – Ningbo – Busan – Long Beach – Oakland – Qingdao.

Asia <-> North Europe

MSC revised the port rotation of its Swan service, adding port calls at Bremerhaven and Busan. While the number of vessels deployed for this service is yet to be announced, the average vessel capacity on the service will be 11,300 TEU. The revised port rotation of the service is: Tanjung Pelepas – Antwerp – Gdynia– Gdansk – Klaipeda – Bremerhaven – King Abdullah Port – Singapore – Qingdao – Busan – Ningbo – Yantian – Tanjung Pelepas.

Asia <-> South America

The AC2/AC3 services offered by Maersk will be split into two separate services, AC2 and AC3. The port rotation of the AC2 will be: Shanghai - Qingdao - Busan - Yokohama - Manzanillo (Mexico) - Lazaro Cardenas - Guayaquil - Balboa - Lazaro Cardenas - Shanghai. This service deploys ten ships with 13,568 TEU average capacity.

The AC3 service will have the following rotation: Hong Kong - Shanghai - Ningbo - Gwangyang - Busan - Balboa - Buenaventura - Callao - Puerto Angamos - San Antonio - Tauranga - Hong Kong.

According to the carrier, the first vessels with the new rotation will be as follows:

• AC2: MV. Maersk Eindhoven – Shanghai on 7 Aug
• AC3: MV Maersk Stepnica - Shanghai on 11 August

Intra-Asia

The Intra-Asia service Kamchatka offered by MSC will re-launch starting in August. According to Sea Intelligence, one vessel will be deployed on the service with a vessel capacity of 1,100 TEU. The port rotation of the service will be: Busan – Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky – Busan.

Another intra-Asia service was announced by ONE with the name Thailand Hakata Express, THX. The port rotation of THX is: Bangkok - Laem Chabang - Ho Chi Minh - Nansha - Hakata - Osaka – Kobe.

Intra- Mediterranean/Black Sea

ONE will launch a new service to connect West Mediterranean to East Mediterranean in mid-August. The AIB service will deploy three vessels with an average capacity of 2,500 TEU. The port rotation of is announced to be: Damietta – Haifa – Ashdod – Damietta – Koper – Trieste – Venice – Ancona – Piraeus – Alexandria – Damietta.

Mediterranean/Black Sea <-> North Europe

MSC's intra-Europe service, the Levante Express, added a port call at Naples and dropped the Northbound port call at Gioia Tauro. MSC deployed five vessels on the route, with an average vessel capacity of 9,000 TEU. The revised port rotation: London Gateway – Rotterdam – Antwerp – Valencia – Gioia Tauro – Alexandria El Dekheila – Beirut – Mersin – Naples – La Spezia – London Gateway.

North America <-> North Europe

As of August 2023, CMA CGM will revise the port rotation of the MEDGULF service by adding a port call at Barcelona and Le Spezia. The carrier will deploy seven vessels with an average vessel capacity of 2,500 TEU. The new port rotation will be: Tangier – La Spezia – Genoa – Barcelona – Valencia – Miami – Veracruz – Altamira – Houston – Tangier.

North America <-> South America

Container carriers Hapag-Lloyd, MSC, and ONE will revise the port rotation of the GS1/ Gulf To Saec String 2/ANG, connecting NA East Coast to SA East Coast. The service changes include adding a port call at Paranagua and increasing the number of deployed vessels from eight to nine. The average vessel capacity will be 6,000 TEU. The revised rotation is as follows: Veracruz – Altamira – Houston – New Orleans – Cartagena (Colombia) – Suape – Santos – Buenos Aires – Montevideo – Rio Grande – Navegantes – Paranagua – Santos – Rio de Janeiro – Cartagena (Colombia) – Veracruz.

Asian liner ONE announced the launching of a new service called FLX, connecting South America with the East Coast of North America (Florida). According to the carrier, the service will launch in September 2023 and deploy four vessels. The FLX route is: Callao - Paita - Guayaquil - Cartagena – South Florida - Puerto Cortés - Cartagena – Callao. The average capacity deployed for this service is yet to be announced.

North Europe <-> South America

Chinese carrier COSCO will launch a new weekly service from North Europe and the Mediterranean this September. The ESE2 service will start on 16 September and call major ports in the two continents. The rotation is: Rotterdam – London Gateway – Hamburg – Antwerp – Lisbon – Algeciras – Santos – Paranaguá – Montevideo – Buenos Aires – Itapoa – Paranaguá – Santos – Rio de Janeiro – Algeciras – Rotterdam.

More in carrier news…

The revenues of Singapore-based container carrier ONE plummeted during the first quarter of the year as part of the weak market demand. According to a press release by the carrier, the profits reached USD 513 million, a significant decline year-on-year (-91%). Compared to Q1 2022, the company's EBITDA dropped 87% to $770 million, and its EBIT dropped 93% to $386 million. ONE's media statement highlighted, "The Global cargo demand in April-June was significantly lower than in the same period of the previous year. East-West routes fell in demand due to stagnant retail consumption in Europe and the U.S. due to high interest rates and inflation."

Similarly, the financial performance of French liner CMA CGM for the second quarter of this year was significantly down. Compared to the same quarter in 2022, the company's revenues fell by about 37% to $12.3 billion. According to the company's press statement, EBITA decreased by 73% to $2.6 billion, while net income decreased by 83% to $1.3 billion.

The South Korean government is looking to sell a controlling stake in HMM, the country's largest shipping operator, for 5 trillion won ($3.9 billion). Four bidders, namely SM Group, LX Holdings, Dongwon Group, and Harim, have emerged as potential investors. According to local media, the bidders saw acquiring HMM as a tactical move to increase their influence in the container transportation industry.

In the meantime, HMM has announced that "99% of its owned vessels are well-placed to keep their voyage under the CII (Carbon Intensity Indicator) regulation." The assessment of the carrier's vessels was based on the 'KR GEARs', a Greenhouse Gas(GHG) Emission Authentic Reporting system launched by the Korean Register(KR). According to the company, 67 of HMM's owned vessels, except for one bulk ship, received a rating from A to D, which is currently allowed for vessel operation.