According to analyst Alphaliner the “partial extension” of its winter services means that the FE5, southeast Asia to north Europe loop, suspended in November, and the PS5, Far East to California loop, suspended in September, will continue to be suspended until further notice.
“This capacity management scheme will be extended further into 2024 than originally planned and the THEA partners said it would remain in place ‘until further notice’,” reported Alphaliner.
The EC4 service from Asia to the US east coast was also suspended in November but has been reinstated in THEA’s enhanced east – west network from April. THEA includes Hapag-Lloyd, HMM, Yang Ming and ONE.
The carriers’ enhanced service offering includes three services that will need to transit the Panama Canal, currently operating with severe restrictions due to low water levels, transits are down to 24 per day from the normal 34 – 36 per day.
Alphaliner said these services are currently diverted to the Suez Canal route, and will likely need to sail around the African Cape given the security issues in the southern Red Sea.
Meanwhile, French carrier CMA CGM and its Danish counterpart Maersk are embarking on a Caribbean cruise from 14-January with a new service out of Port Everglades in Miami.
The service will call at Kingston, La Guaira and Puerto Cabello in Venezuela, Cartagena (Colombia), Puerto Cortes (Honduras), Santo Tomas de Castilla (Guatamala) and Port Everglades.
The joint service will operate a three-week rotation with three vessels, two from CMA CGM and the other from Maersk, of between 1,500 and 2,500 teu.
In another US first the Turkish duo Arkas and Turkon will enter the into joint service agreement operating to the US, having logged a new Mediterranean to US east coast joint service, calling at ports in Spain, Egypt, Turkey and Morocco, before heading to the US.
Turcon already operates a Med to USEC service with Hapag-Lloyd, but this will be Arkas’ first venture across the Atlantic.
The service will eventually be operated by seven ships of around 5,000 teu, but in its initial sailings Turcon will supply five vessels, and Arkas one ship, ranging from 1,800 to 2,800 teu, with Arkas taking 300-slot allocation on Turcon ships.
The agreement will run for 30 months, with a six month notice period if either carrier wishes to end the joint service.
Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. Seatrade, a trading name of Informa Markets (UK) Limited.
Add Seatrade Maritime News to your Google News feed.  |
