Grand Alliance members Hapag-Lloyd, Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) and Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) announced on Feb. 18 that they will cooperate with ZIM in two strings in the trans-Pacific trade, with immediate effect. The scope includes North China and Japan, South China, South East Asia to Canada and US North West Coast (NWX and PNX services).
The services will operate on a weekly basis with a round voyage time of 42 days (PNX) and 35 days (NWX) respectively. ZIM will provide 3 x 8,000+ TEU vessels from July onward and the Grand Alliance will provide 8 x 8,000 TEU vessels.
With this cooperation, the Grand Alliance and ZIM are committed to improving services for our customers by offering enhanced efficiency, increased economy of scale and improving capacity and utilization of equipment. The agreement is subject to Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) approval.
Port rotation will be as follows:
NWX – Ningbo, Shanghai, Qingdao, Busan, Seattle, Vancouver (Vanterm), Tokyo, Nagoya, Kobe and Ningbo.
PNX – Singapore, Laem Chabang, Shekou, Hong Kong, Kaohsiung, Vancouver (Delta port), Seattle, Busan, Kaohsiung, Hong Kong, Shekou and Singapore.
The Grand Alliance, formed in 1998, is an integrated consortium in global container shipping. Its members are Hapag-Lloyd (Germany), MISC Berhad (Malaysia), NYK (Japan) and OOCL (Hong Kong). MISC Berhad does not operate on this trade and therefore has not participated in this particular agreement.