Ckyh Alliance News

Containership reliability took a small step backwards in October as the average on-time performance across all trades reached 77.9%, according to Carrier Performance Insight, the online schedule reliability tool provided by Drewry Supply Chain Advisors. The latest result is based on reliability across 10 deep-sea container trades, instead of the three East-West trades as was previously measured up to and including September 2015, when the aggregate on-time result was 79.9%. The expanded coverage is part of an upgrade to Drewry’s Carrier Performance Insight, which now covers 69 ports and 809 port pairs, and also includes new functionality to download data from the monthly release in both Excel and PDF formats.

The formation of 2M is only the conclusion of the latest round of mega-alliance negotiations. Ocean carriers are clearly not yet done with mega-alliance expansion following China’s rejection of P3. Maersk and MSC’s subsequent 2M agreement is only the latest. Evergreen and the CKYH alliance are still talking to the US’ Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) about extending the scope of their operating agreement between Asia and Europe to include the US, and CMA CGM has yet to clarify who its new partners will be. New partnerships are required as no one has yet come up with a better alternative to reduce costs and improve service frequency at the same time, short of take-overs and mergers.

The North European ports of Rotterdam and Hamburg are experiencing significant congestion, an echo of the issues last seen around the world during the boom of the early/mid 2000s – before the global financial crash took over. The causes of the current congestion are numerous, but poor carrier schedule reliability is high on the list. Are these port congestion problems just temporary, or indicative of a new paradigm for the industry? Drewry Maritime Research considers possibilities in their latest 'Container Insight Weekly'. The current congestion difficulties  of Rotterdam and Hamburg are partly because terminal capacity is being affected by work to upgrade existing facilities (such as installing new cranes at the ECT Delta terminal) and also because…

Drewry’s weekly container insight report shows exits from the transatlantic and Asia-Black Sea trades demonstrate how Hanjin is prioritizing financial repair over global coverage. Drewry said cash-strapped Hanjin Shipping has recently announced to its customers that it will be leaving two unprofitable trade lanes. The South Korean carrier will cease taking slots on the Asia‐Black Sea Express (ABX) service of China Shipping, Yang Ming and Wan Hai, and from April / May will pull out of the transatlantic market…

Manila's International Container Terminal Services Inc's (ICTSI), troubled venture in Portland, Oregon, faces more difficulties as its big customer, Hanjin Shipping, is pondering whether to leave the port for either Tacoma or Seattle, according to the 'China Logistics Portal'. Portland has been plagued with labour problems, resulting in on-again off-again work slowdowns, which came from conflicting undertakings given to two unions over which union would supply reefer box monitors. The Portland Port Authority contracted the work to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, while the employers' Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) had guaranteed all waterfront work to the ILWU.

Following Evergreen’s recent consolidation of its U.K. cargo handling needs at Felixstowe, the news that Hapag-Lloyd, OOCL and NYK intend to switch their transatlantic services to Southampton will leave Thamesport with no deep sea services. Whilst a return of some deep sea traffic might occur, Thamesport appears to be the first casualty of the impending shake up in U.K. deep sea container ports brought about by the combination of bigger ships, larger alliances – and the new London Gateway terminal. U.K.

The Port of Hamburg receives the first of a total of eight 13,380-TEU COSCO newbuildings at HHLA’s Container Terminal Tollerort. Delivered at the end of February, the completed containership Cosco Belgium  will berth in Hamburg on April 11. Operating under the Hong Kong flag, this ULCC is 366 meters long, 51 meters wide and when fully loaded has a draft of 15.5 meters. She is the first of altogether eight 13,380 TEU (20-feet standard container) vessels ordered by Cosco from the Chinese NACKS shipyard in April 2008.

During her maiden voyage the HANJIN SOOHO, the Korean shipping company HANJIN’s largest containership to date, berthed in the Port of Hamburg on 4 May 2012. With a slot capacity of 13,100 TEU (20-ft standard containers), this mega-containership was handled at Eurogate Container Terminal Hamburg. The HANJIN SOOHO is 366 metres long, 48.20 metres wide, and has over 800 connections for reefer containers. It was named in honour of the late Sooho Cho, former Chairman of Hanjin Shipping Group, who died in 2006. The HANJIN SOOHO is also the first of nine 13,100-TEU newbuilds to be deployed by HANJIN jointly with its partners on the East Asia-Europe service NE6 organized by the CKYH Alliance.

Evergreen Line has announced a rationalization plan with the CKYH Alliance (Coscon, "K"LINE, Yang Ming, Hanjin Shipping) for the U.S. East Coast / Northwest Europe Service. The new service combines their Evergreen Line's Trans Atlantic string of North Asia-U.S. East Coast-Europe pendulum service (NUE) and the Alliance's existing Trans Atlantic service - loop1 (TAS1) into a new Trans Atlantic Express service (TAE) commencing September 2009. The new TAE service will operate with four 2,400-TEU vessels with Evergreen Line and the CKYH Alliance each deploying two vessels. The port rotation is as follows: Antwerp - Bremerhaven - Rotterdam - Le Havre - New York -Norfolk - Charleston - Antwerp.

The CKYH Alliance (COSCON, “K” Line, Yang Ming and Hanjin Shipping) has reorganized its CNEU Far East service, and is once again offering two independent services. At the end of the season in December 2008 the AE-N and AE-S services had been combined into a single service. With the arrival in Hamburg of the COSCO Africa on 20 May and the COSCO Guangzhou on 23 May, the two original round trips have been restored. Under the AE-N service, the COSCO Guangzhou (9,469 TEU) regularly sails from Dalian via Xingang (Tianjin), Qingdao, Ningbo, Nansha (Guangzhou), Singapore and Rotterdam to Hamburg, Europe’s most important seaport for trade with China and the Far East.

The Georgia Ports Authority’s (GPA) Executive Director Doug J. Marchand announced at its board meeting that China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO) now has vessels calling on the Port of Savannah. “We appreciate COSCO’s confidence in our ability to handle its container volume now and in the future,” said GPA’s Executive Director Doug J. Marchand. “The Port of Savannah offers a logistically friendly location with two on-terminal rail providers and immediate access to two interstate highways, which helps us attract additional cargo in a challenging economy.