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.

With the developments in the Red Sea, ocean carriers mainly focused on optimising their vessel routing strategies. This includes the use of feeder services to offer better connectivity to those ports impacted the most by the situation in the Red Sea. There has been some focus on Mediterranean ports in the past weeks.

New & updated services on main trade lanes

Asia<->Indian Subcontinent

GSL/OOCL/RCL have revised the port rotation of their Asia-Indian Subcontinent service to include a port call in Dalian

• Carrier service name: GSL (CI3), OOCL (CIX3) and RCL (RKI)
• Port rotation: Tianjin Xingang - Dalian - Busan - Shanghai - Xiamen - Hong Kong - Shekou - Singapore - Colombo - Nhava Sheva - Pipavav - Singapore - Hong Kong - Tianjin Xingang
• Frequency: Weekly
• Vessel deployment: 6 vessels with an average capacity of 8,000 TEU
• First sailing: Tianjin departing Tianjin Xingang on 17 January

Asia <-> North Europe

At the end of January, the Ocean Alliance (COSCO Shipping, Evergreen Line, CMA CGM, and OOCL) will revise the port rotation of their Asia to North Europe service by adding a port call in Shanghai.

• Carrier service name: COSCO (AEU7), Evergreen (NE7), CMA CGM (FAL7), OOCL(LL3)
• Port rotation: Singapore - Shanghai - Xiamen - Nansha - Hong Kong - Yantian - Vung Tau - Singapore - Piraeus - Hamburg - Rotterdam - Zeebrugge - Valencia - Piraeus - Abu Dhabi - Port Klang - Singapore
• Frequency: Weekly
• Vessel deployment: 12 vessels with an average capacity of 18,000 TEU
• First sailing: OOCL Indonesia will call Singapore on 27 January.

Asia <-> Mediterranean

The Malaysian government imposed a ban on ZIM ships calling its ports. The carrier revised its ZIM Med Premium service (ZMP) to replace Port Klang with Cai Mep. This service is being routed via the Cape of Good Hope.

• Carrier service name: ZMP
• Port rotation: Busan - Qingdao - Ningbo - Shanghai - Dachan Bay - Cai Mep - Colombo - Haifa - Ashdod - Mersin - Yarimca - Ambarli - Dachan Bay - Xiamen - Busan
• Frequency: Weekly
• Vessel deployment: 10 vessels with an average capacity of 6,400 TEU
• First sailing: Zim Pusan from Cai Mep on 8 January

Indian Subcontinent<-> Central West Africa

Maersk has announced a new service connecting the Indian Subcontinent and the Middle East with Central West Africa.

• Carrier service name: MEWA
• Port rotation: Tanjung Pelepas - Colombo - Nhava Sheva - Mundra - Colombo - Tema - Lome - Abidjan - Tanjung Pelepas.
• Frequency: Weekly
• Vessel deployment: WAFMAX vessels
• First sailing: Maersk Aras from Tanjung Pelepas, Malaysia on 9 February.

Intra-Europe

CMA CGM began a new service connecting the West Mediterranean with the East Mediterranean, merging its ADRINAF and TMX3 services.

• Carrier service name: TMX3
• Port rotation: Izmir - Gebze - Gemlik - Marsaxlokk - Ancona - Rijeka - Trieste - Venice - Koper - Bar - Taranto - Marsaxlokk - Benghazi - Izmir
• Frequency: Weekly
• Vessel deployment: 4 vessels with an average capacity of 1,300 TEU
• First sailing: Cape Franklin departed from Izmir on 7 January

The French carrier also changed two other Mediterranean feeder services to offer faster connectivity.

• Carrier service name: Turkey Libya Express (TULBY)
• Port rotation: Aliaga - Gemlik - Ambarli - Alexandria Old port - Misurata - Aliaga
• Frequency: Weekly
• Vessel deployment: 2 vessels with a nominal capacity of 1,300 TEU
• First sailing: Atlantic Merchant from Aliaga on 17 January

• Carrier service name: Greece Turkey Libya Express (GTL)
• Port rotation: Thessaloniki - Pireaus - Limassol - Beirut - Iskenderun - Malta - Tripoli - Misurata - Thessaloniki
• Frequency: Weekly
• Vessel deployment: 4 vessels with a nominal capacity of 1,700 TEU
• First sailing: SC Medford from Thessaloniki on 8 January

Likewise, Hapag-Lloyd will revise the rotation of its Intra-Europe service, which connects the West Mediterranean and East Mediterranean, at the end of January. The new rotation will include Istanbul, Izmit, Aliaga, and a second port call at Piraeus.

• Carrier service name: current ADX service
• Port rotation: Piraeus - Alexandria - Damietta - Koper - Venice - Rijeka - Ancona - Piraeus - Istanbul - Izmit - Aliaga - Piraeus
• Frequency: Weekly
• Vessel deployment: 4 vessels with an average capacity of 3,400 TEU
• First sailing: Mona Lisa will depart Istanbul on 24 January

Lastly, Effective late January, Yang Ming will launch a new feeder service to connect Turkey to the Black Sea. ONE will slot charter on this service.

• Carrier service name: Ying Ming (IBX), ONE (BTS)
• Port rotation: Ambarli - Varna - Constanta - Ambarli
• Frequency: Fortnightly
• Vessel deployment: 1 vessel with a capacity of 1,800 TEU
• First sailing: YM Inventive from Aliaga on 30 January

North America<-> South and Central America

At the beginning of January, Hapag-Lloyd dropped the Houston port call on its service connecting the US and Mexico with South America. The revised GCS service now operates between Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and the Dominican Republic.

• Carrier service name: GCS
• Port rotation: Caucedo - Altamira - Veracruz - Puerto Barrios - Puerto Cortes - Caucedo.
• Frequency: Weekly
• Vessel deployment: 3 vessels with an average capacity of 2,800 TEU
• First sailing: Scorpius departed Caucedo on 3 January

North America <-> Oceania

As a result of the Panama Canal restrictions and ongoing strikes at Australian ports, Maersk has revised its service linking Oceania with the East Coast of the US. The carrier has created two separate service loops and will utilise the Panama Canal Railway to link them. In addition, it will omit Cartegena, Colombia on its northbound rotation.

"The vessels that utilised the Panama Canal before will now omit the Panama Canal and use a "land bridge" that utilises rail to transport cargo across the 80 km of Panama to the other side," said Maersk in an advisory. "This creates two separate loops, one Atlantic and one Pacific."

Pacific vessels will turn around at Balboa, Panama, discharging Latin American and North American cargo and loading cargo heading for Australia and New Zealand.

• Carrier service name: OC1 (Pacific Loop)
• Port rotation: Balboa - Tauranga - Sydney - Melbourne - Port Chalmers - Tauranga - Balboa
• Frequency: Weekly
• Vessel deployment: 7 vessels with an average capacity of 3,000-3,700 TEU

Atlantic vessels will turn around at Manzanillo, Panama, discharging Australian and New Zealand cargo and loading cargo heading for Latin and North America.

• Carrier service name: OC1 (Atlantic Loop)
• Port rotation: Manzanillo - Philadelphia - Charleston - Manzanillo
• Frequency: Weekly
• Vessel deployment: 3 vessels with an average capacity of 3,000-3,700 TEU
• The last sailing using the Panama Canal: Spirit of Melbourne on 13 January.

To compensate for the loss of the Cartegena call on the OC1 service, Maersk launched a Panama-Columbia feeder service.

• Carrier service name: Cumbia Feeder
• Port rotation: Manzanillo, Colon - Barranquilla - Cartagena - Santa Marta - Manzanillo
• Frequency: Weekly
• First sailing: Contship Key on 15 January

North America <-> North Europe

Beginning this month, MSC merged its Ecuador-NWC and Scan Baltic-USA services into one connecting North Europe to North America's East Coast. Ellerman City Liners will slot charter on this service.

• Carrier service name: Ecuador-NWC & Scan Baltic–USA
• Port rotation: Antwerp - Rotterdam - Bremerhaven - Klaipeda - Gdynia - Gothenburg - Bremerhaven - Antwerp - Felixstowe - Le Havre - Boston - New York - Philadelphia - Norfolk - Jacksonville - Freeport - Balboa - Guayaquil - Puerto Bolivar - Guayaquil - Manzanillo (Panama) - Puerto Moin - Antwerp
• Frequency: Weekly
• Vessel deployment: 11 vessels with an average capacity of 6,000 TEU
• First sailing: MSC Vita departed Antwerp on 3 January

More in carrier news

Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk Alliance

The carriers announced the creation of a new shipping alliance to begin in February 2025. The collaboration agreement will be called the 'Gemini Cooperation',

The network will cover seven trades: Asia / US West Coast, Asia / US East Coast, Asia / Middle East, Asia / Mediterranean, Asia / North Europe, Middle East - India / Europe and Transatlantic. Read more on Sea News.

COSCO/OOCL - Israel

In the last week, media reports suggested that Cosco has stopped shipments to Israel. Kuehne+Nagel has since received confirmation that the Chinese shipping line will no longer call Israeli ports. In addition, OOCL has also stopped accepting Israeli cargo.

CMA CGM - Niger

Authorities in Benin have lifted the suspension of cargo to Niger via Benin. Following this, CMA CGM has resumed acceptance of all merchant haulage bookings to and from Niger via the port of Cotonou, Benin.