G6 Alliance News

Japan’s big three shippers -Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL), Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK) and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K Line) -  have reported profits for the first quarter, bouncing back from losses a year earlier Reuters reported. Thanks to rising freight rates, the shippers showed brightened financials ahead of their integration into the Ocean Network Express (ONE) next April. The results are also raising hopes the firms could be emerging from the industry’s worst-ever downturn on record. NYK recorded a profit attributable to owners of the parent of 5.4 billion yen (U.S. $48.9 million) for the quarter, compared to a loss of 12.79 billion yen for the corresponding quarter a year prior.

The withdrawal of Hanjin tonnage has not been enough to rectify the trade’s supply-demand imbalance and headhaul ship utilisation is lower compared to other major East-West markets. Westbound volumes rose by 1.8% in the third quarter and the growth rate for the year to date is now registering 2.9% (see Figure 1). Asian exports shipped to the West Mediterranean (including North Africa) grew by 2.8% between July and September, while traffic to the eastern sector of the trade only expanded by 0.8%. By the end of September, the 12-month rolling average growth factor for westbound flows was touching 3.4% (see Figure 2) which is a distinct improvement on the minus 1.9% recorded a year earlier, and represents the highest point it has reached since March 2015.

Two services will be merged into one until further notice / Reason is change in market demand / All other services remain unchanged. Members of the G6 Alliance today announced a change within their Asia - North America West Coast products in response to changes in market demand. All other services of the G6 Alliance covering Asia to North America West Coast will remain unchanged. The G6 Alliance continues to offer a variety of services between Asia and the North America West Coast covering all major port pairs with weekly sailings, and to make further service adjustments where necessary. The G6 Alliance members are: APL, Hapag-Lloyd, Hyundai Merchant Marine, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Nippon Yusen Kaisha and Orient Overseas Container Line.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. today announced that the MOL Benefactor, a 10,000-TEU containership has successfully passed through the expanded Panama Canal on July 1, 2016. This is significant in that the MOL Benefactor is the first Neo-Panamax containership to perform a commercial transit through the Canal’s new expanded locks. MOL Benefactor, newly built and delivered to MOL in March of 2016 is also the first Neo-Panamax vessel deployed on the G6 Alliance’s new NYX service. The NYX provides a direct link between Qingdao, Ningbo, Shanghai, Busan with New York, Norfolk and Savannah on the United States East Coast and also provides connections to/from Latin America via Manzanillo, Panama.

Israeli carrier Zim Integrated Shipping Services (ZIM) might join the 2M Alliance between Maersk Line and Mediterranean Shipping Co., Alphaline said quoting industry sources. This news followed the last week's news of South Korea’s Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM), currently a member of the G6 Alliance, that it was in negotiations to join the 2M partnership. 2M alliance currently consists of Maersk Line and Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A. (MSC). Zim has a 3.3 percent share in the trans-Pacific route, Alphaliner said and that would be good synergy for 2M. Zim is the only major global container ship operator that has not officially joined any of the existing alliances or the new groupings that will begin next year.

There are rumours among observers that the  market leader Maersk Line is planning to acquire South Korea’s shipping major Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM). Neither company has commented on the matter. Both companies were tight-lipped today on merger talk. According to a Reuters report, Maersk itself hasn't made a major acquisition for more than a decade but says it might be open to "the right opportunity", although doubters believe such deals risk accumulating ships without securing enough customers. Jakob Stausholm, Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer at Maersk Line, said: "If the right opportunity is there we will look into it. If you look at the history of Maersk Line, we have achieved our leadership position by combination of organic growth and acquisitions.

Hapag-Lloyd launches “THE Alliance” with old and new partners – Customers benefit from additional sailings and direct connections. The container shipping industry is undergoing a period of reorganization – and Hapag-Lloyd is assuming a leading role in the process. The carrier has just teamed up with five other shipping companies to forge one of the world’s largest container shipping alliances. Plans call for the new alliance – appropriately named “THE Alliance” – to officially begin operations in April 2017. Together, the member shipping companies currently possess approximately 3.5 million TEU, or some 18 percent of the global container fleet capacity.

Facing less-than-expected market demand, members of the G6 Alliance announced additional void sailings within the container shippers’ Asia-Europe service, suspending its Loop 6 service until further notice. The G6 Alliance, which consists of APL, Hapag-Lloyd, Hyundai Merchant Marine, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Nippon Yusen Kaisha and Orient Overseas Container Line, said it continues to offer various services between Asia and Europe covering major port pairs with weekly sailings. The shippers said further service adjustments are possible as the G6 Alliance continues to review its product profile…

Ahead of the Panama Canal expansion two alliances have announced they will upsize some of their ships on the Asia-US East Coast route. How quickly will the others follow? The 9,400-teu Cosco containership Andronikos will make the first transit of the expanded Panama Canal on Sunday 26 June, and ahead of that two shipping alliances – CKHYE and G6 – have laid out their plans to upgrade the size of ships used on the Asia-US East Coast via Panama route. In November last year Container Insight Weekly noted that Drewry expected carriers to resist the urge to flood the trade with the biggest ships possible and that vessel upgrades will be incremental and in line with demand growth. That prediction seems to have come true based on the immediate plans that have been communicated thus far.

The European Commission said on Friday it had cleared French shipping group CMA CGM's $2.4 billion takeover of Neptune Orient Lines on condition that NOL pulls out from a rival shipping alliance. The announcement confirms a Reuters report on April 21 about the impending approval. CMA CGM, the world's third-biggest container shipping company, is looking to strengthen its position against bigger rivals Maersk Line and Swiss-based Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC). The European Commission said in a statement that its approval was conditional on CMA CGM's commitment to withdraw NOL from the G6 alliance, which competes with its own Ocean Three alliance.

EU approval conditional on NOL pulling out from G6 alliance. French shipping group CMA CGM's $2.4 billion takeover of Neptune Orient Lines is set to be cleared by the European Union's competition regulators, on condition that NOL pulls out from a rival shipping alliance, two people familiar with the matter said on Thursday. CMA CGM, the world's third-biggest container shipping company, is looking to strengthen its position against bigger rivals Maersk Line and Swiss-based Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC). CMA CGM's plan to withdraw NOL from the G6 alliance, which competes with its own Ocean Three alliance, was able to address European Commission concerns, the people said.

According to WSJ report, deals involving Cosco, China Shipping, CMA CGM and Neptune Orient Lines to bring major changes in global shipping alliances. China Cosco Shipping and CMA CGM are hoping to form a new alliance with OOCL, Evergreen Line, and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, according to sources in the Chinese shipping industry. According to the Alphaliner, CMA CGM and Cosco are leading efforts to create a new vessel-sharing alliance that could include Evergreen Line and OOCL and would shake up three of the four major east-west carrier groupings. CMA CGM’s plans to bring APL into the O3 Alliance once the NOL acquisition is done has put the spotlight on the G6 Alliance.

The Panama Canal has linked the Pacific with the Atlantic for more than 100 years. It will soon be possible for significantly larger ships to pass through its locks. What will the expansion mean for Hapag-Lloyd? They’re still working in Panama, on one of the biggest construction sites in the world. Everything seems gigantic here. The lock gates alone, veritable monsters of grey steel: 16 in total, each of them 57 meters long, averaging 30 meters high, ten meters thick and weighing 3,300 metric tons. They were brought by special ships from Italy to the jungle of Central America.

Members of the G6 Alliance today announced additional void sailings within their Asia-Europe product to adjust to market demand. As the G6 Alliance continues to review its product profile, the Loop 6 service’s further void sailings will start from Week 19 for an additional period of 8 weeks. Voiding of sailings in Loop 6 due to changes in market demand / Further service adjustments possible. The Loop 6 service will resume in Week 27 (westbound ETA Fuzhou 7th July). The G6 Alliance continues to offer a variety of services between Asia and Europe covering all major port pairs with weekly sailings, and to make further service adjustments where necessary. The G6 Alliance members are: APL, Hapag-Lloyd, Hyundai Merchant Marine, Mitsui O.S.K.

Members of the G6 Alliance, including  APL, Hapag-Lloyd, Hyundai Merchant Marine, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Nippon Yusen Kaisha and Orient Overseas Container Line, have announced additional void sailings within its Asia-Europe product to adjust to market demand. As the G6 Alliance continues to review its product profile, the Loop 6 service’s further void sailings will start from Week 19 for an additional period of eight weeks. In order to deliver continuous coverage and services, the G6 Alliance will continue to provide the following rotation until the Loop 6 service resumes. The Loop 6 service will resume in Week 27 (westbound ETA Fuzhou July 7).

The CKYHE Alliance is reorganizing its service network for Asia-Europe and Asia-Mediterranean trades as the carriers try to counter the weak demand and excess capacity that is plaguing the route and dragging down freight rates. Members of the CKYHE alliance, one of the four major groupings covering the east-west trades, have agreed to reorganise their service network for the Asia-North Europe and Asia-Mediterranean trades this year. The Alliance is cancelling one of its six weekly strings between Asia and North Europe, as utilisation levels plummet and freight rates hit rock bottom. From the end of this month the CKYHE will stop its China Europe Shuttle (CES) service…

Members of the G6 Alliance today announced additional void sailings within their Asia-Europe product in response to changes in market demand. As the G6 Alliance continues to review its product profile, the Loop 6 service will void sailings starting from Week 8 for a period of 11 weeks. The Loop 6 service will resume in Week 19 (westbound ETA Fuzhou 12th May). The G6 Alliance continues to offer a variety of services between Asia and Europe covering all major port pairs with weekly sailings, and to make further service adjustments where necessary. The G6 Alliance members are: APL, Hapag-Lloyd, Hyundai Merchant Marine, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Nippon Yusen Kaisha and Orient Overseas Container Line.

The newly-formed shipping giant China Cosco Shipping Corporation and CMA CGM met recently in Shanghai to discuss the possibility of a new French-Asian alliance, say local Chinese media. According to sources,  the alliance would also include Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL). If it happens it would be shake-up the present structure of maritime alliances of container companies. China Cosco Shipping Corporation - which is made up of Cosco and CSCL - is likely to own 832 ships including containers, dry-bulk vessels and tankers amounting to almost $22 billion. Together with NOL and its subsidiary APL, CMA-CGM remains in third place, but would rise to 2.3 million TEUs of total capacity, behind Maersk and MSC.

On 7 December 2015, Neptune Orient Lines (NOL), parent company of G6 Alliance member APL, announced the potential acquisition of NOL by CMA CGM. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals. Until there is further development, the G6 Alliance assures that its current service structure will remain stable, and expects to operate as aligned through 2016. Members of the G6 Alliance stay committed in offering reliable shipping services that meet the needs of customers. The G6 Alliance will make further announcements should there be any development. The G6 Alliance members are: APL, Hapag-Lloyd, Hyundai Merchant Marine, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Nippon Yusen Kaisha and Orient Overseas Container Line.

Container shippers of the G6 alliance intend to maintain current service structure and operate as aligned through 2016, following news of CMA-CGM’s potential takeover of Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) announced earlier this week. Singapore-based NOL, parent company G6 member APL, said it will continue to operate as normal as its acquisition remains subject to regulatory approvals expected in the later part of next year. Other G6 Alliance members include Hapag-Lloyd, Hyundai Merchant Marine, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL), Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) and Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL).

Slowing global trade and a bloated orderbook of large vessel capacity mean that container shipping is set for another three years of overcapacity and financial pain, according to the latest Container Forecaster report published by global shipping consultancy Drewry. The recent slowdown in world trade has forced Drewry to halve its forecast for container shipping growth for this year to just 2.2 percent and revise down estimates for future years. Meanwhile, an additional 1.6 million teu of new capacity is being added to the fleet this year, equating to a growth rate of 7.7 percent.

Members of the G6 Alliance today announced the Winter Program for Asia – North America services in response to traditional seasonal changes in market demand. The first sailing of the combined service will start with the Week 44 sailing (ETA Xiamen October 29, 2015). The G6 Alliance will temporarily suspend the Central China 2 (CC2) service between Asia and the North America West Coast during the winter period starting from Week 44. The last sailing for CC2 will be on Week 43 E/B (ETA Ningbo October 18, 2015) and Week 45 W/B (ETA Long Beach November 5, 2015). The G6 Alliance continues to offer a variety of services between Asia and North America covering all major port pairs with weekly sailings, and to make service adjustments where necessary.

Major container shipping rates plummeted again this week, with declines on the trunk Shanghai-Europe routes falling at record amounts,  says Shangahi Containerised Freight Index (SCFI). A eport in ASC  says that the SCFI for Far East to North Europe dropped by a staggering 31%, losing US $143 per teu to finish the week at US $313 per teu. The rate to the Med also finished at US $313 per teu, one the first times that the southern gateways have commanded a similar freight rate to Europe’s northern ports. The Far East to Med route decline represented a drop of 30%, or US $135 per teu. The decline represents a potential loss for shipping lines operating ultra large container ships of US $2.4-million on a single voyage.