North Europe Service News

The first container-ship in the new Asia service Loop 7 - the Taurus,  14.424 TEU, belonging to the Ocean Alliance - has berthed in the Port of Hamburg.Port of Hamburg said that this service is part of the new Day 3 Product, with which the Alliance consisting of CMA CGM, Cosco, Evergreen and OOCL is entering its third year.With DAY 3, the Ocean Alliance has 330 containerships in 38 services, increasing its transport capacity to 3.8 million TEU. With Loop 7, six out of seven Ocean Alliance Asia-North Europe services call at the Port of Hamburg.In total 21 liner services currently sail between Hamburg and the Far East, of which 14 are container liner services.The new Asia-North Europe service Loop 7 is served by ten Evergreen units between 13…

The Korean container shipping company Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) has started a new, independent Asia-North Europe service in April. The first vessel of the AEX service to call at Eurogate Container Terminal Hamburg on 12 May was ‘Hyundai Forward’ with a capacity of the 4,700 TEU. A total of ten units of these comparatively small Panamax container ships will rotate weekly between Busan (Korea), Shanghai (China), Ningbo (China), Kaohsiung (China), Yantian (China), Singapore, Colombo (Sri Lanka), Rotterdam (Netherlands), Hamburg (Germany), Southampton (UK), Singapore, Hong Kong (China) and Busan. The AEX service is an express service. The transit time from Busan to Hamburg is 32 days and from Shanghai to Hamburg 30 days.

South Korea's Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) announced that it launches new Asia-North Europe Express (AEX) service in April. HMM opens a new Asia-North Europe loop in accordance with the increased demand for Express Service. AEX is an independent service operated by HMM outside of the strategic cooperation with 2M. In the meantime, HMM has utilized 2M’s vessel space in Europe trade. Last year, HMM’s handling volume dramatically increased to 4.03 million teu, up more than 30% y.o.y mainly in Asia, US and Europe trades. HMM will deploy ten Panamax (4,600 teu) vessels in AEX service and its first sailing begins on April 8th. Port rotation of the new service is Pusan, Shanghai, Ningbo, Kaohsiung, Shenzhen, Singapore, Colombo, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Southampton, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Pusan.

CKYHE Alliance - COSCON, "K"Line, Yang Ming, Hanjin and Evergreen Line - is reorganizing its service network for Asia-North Europe and Asia-Mediterranean trades in 2016. The CKYHE Alliance will provide five Asia-North Europe services (NE2/NE3/NE5-CEM/NE6/NE7) and four Asia-Mediterranean services (MD1/MD2/HPM-MD3/FEM) with the optimum port coverage throughout Asia, North Europe, East Mediterranean, andWest Mediterranean region from end of March of 2016. CKYHE Alliance will continuously offer quality service to customers by enhancing service efficiency, providing stable transit time and offering more flexible port-pair options. Xingang-Dalian-Qingdao-Shanghai-Ningbo-Singapore-Felixstowe-Rotterdam-Hamburg-Antwerp-Shanghai-Xingang.

The MSC Maya, the fourth of 20 Oscar-Class Ultra-Large Container Ships (ULCS), arrived at APM Terminals Gothenburg on December 21 from the Port of Bremerhaven as part of the regular port rotation of the Maersk Line/Mediterranean Shipping Company AE-2/Swan Far East/North Europe Service in the 2M alliance. With a published capacity of 19,224 TEUs, Oscar-class vessels are the world’s current record holders in container carrying capacity. These ULCS are 396 meters-long, and require a depth of 16 meters. “This is the only port in Sweden with a water depth to handle vessels this large”, noted APM Terminals Gothenburg Vessel Planner Peter Hägg, who has since early December been preparing the operational details of the MSC Maya’s arrival. The MSC Maya will be in port for only a total of 35 hours.

The MSC Maya, the fourth of 20 Oscar-Class Ultra-Large Container Ships (ULCS), arrived at APM Terminals Gothenburg on December 21 from the Port of Bremerhaven as part of the regular port rotation of the Maersk Line/Mediterranean Shipping Company AE-2/Swan Far East/North Europe Service in the 2M alliance. With a published capacity of 19,224 TEUs, Oscar-class vessels are the world’s current record holders in container carrying capacity. These ULCS are 396 meters-long, and require a depth of 16 meters. “This is the only port in Sweden with a water depth to handle vessels this large”, noted APM Terminals Gothenburg Vessel Planner Peter Hägg, who has since early December been preparing the operational details of the MSC Maya’s arrival. The MSC Maya will be in port for only a total of 35 hours.

The North Europe Service 1 (NE-1) run by shipowners ZIM Integrated Shipping Services and MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company is a liner service linking Hamburg weekly with Israel via the Mediterranean. Transport volumes have grown continuously since 2007, in all by around 21 percent. In 2013 around 62,000 TEU (20-ft standard containers) were transported on seaborne container services along this route. ZIM had already extended and restructured the NE-1 service at the beginning of 2013 in reaction to rising quantities and market requirements.

The CMA CGM Group announced the extension of its FEMEX service on the North Europe – Mediterranean trade. In order to improve the coverage of the North Europe – Mediterranean trade and coinciding with a growing existing demand, the CMA CGM Group extended its FEMEX service in the Black Sea with the addition of three new calls in Samsun (Turkey), Novorossiysk (Russia) and Constanta (Romania). The CMA CGM Group will become the only shipping line offering a direct coverage into the Black Sea region from / to North Europe.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL) reports that itself, other concerned parties and Lloyd’s Register (LR), which MOL appointed as technical consultant, have conducted a thorough investigation into the causes of the mid-June 2013 hull fracture of the MOL-operated containership MOL Comfort on the Indian Ocean. Also, MOL has extended and will extend all possible cooperation to the Committee on Large Container Ship Safety, which was launched by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT). MOL began preventative measures to enhance the safety of six sister vessels immediately after the incident. Measures taken to reinforce the hulls of MOL Celebration…

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines report that they, other concerned parties, & Lloyd’s Register which MOL retained as technical consultant, have conducted a thorough investigation into the causes of the mid-June 2013 hull fracture, of the MOL-operated containership 'MOL Comfort', breaking up and sinking in the Indian Ocean. The company adds it has extended and will extend all possible cooperation to the Committee on Large Container Ship Safety, which was launched by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT).

Loop 3 service will not be reinstated / Other G6 services cover ports of loop 3 / Full network coverage and all major port pairs served with weekly sailings. The G6 Alliance has announced  that it will maintain the current 5-loop product structure for its Asia-North Europe service in 2013. “We anticipate the current supply and demand balance will continue and we will not be reinstating the Loop 3 Asia-Europe service,” members of the Alliance said in a joint statement. The Loop 3 service was suspended in October 2012 as part of the Alliance’s winter program. The G6 Alliance will continue offering a variety of services between the Far East and Europe covering all major port pairs with weekly sailings.

The Evergreen Line and China Shipping Container Lines have agreed to cooperate on Asia-US West Coast, Asia-Europe and Asia-Mexico-US East Coast containership services commencing June 2009. The agreement was signed by First Vice Group Chairman of the Evergreen Group, S S Lin and Chairman of the China Shipping Container Lines, S D Lee on 27 May in Shanghai, China. Evergreen upgrades its Hong Kong, Taiwan-US West Coast service (service code: HTW for Evergreen and AAS for CSCL) of five 8,000 TEU vessels. Kaohsiung - Xiamen - Hong Kong - Yantian -Los Angeles -Oakland - Kaohsiung. China Shipping upgrades its North/Central China to US West Coast service (service code: CPS for Evergreen and AAC for CSCL) of five 8,000 TEU vessels.

Hapag-Lloyd has restructured its European Express Service between North Europe and Greece / Turkey facilitating a doubling of weekly departures. Both services will be run in cooperation with MSC shipping line serving the ports of Izmir and Piraeus twice a week. Istanbul, Thessaloniki and Gemlik will be called once per week. In North Europe the ports of Felixstowe and Antwerp (both services), and Le Havre (EEX 1 only) and Sines in Portugal (EEX 2 only) will be served. From Antwerp and Le Havre, the ports of Bremerhaven, Hamburg and Liverpool will be served by a dedicated feeder service. All ships provide sufficient reefer plugs. The first departure from Bremerhaven is on February 11th, from Hamburg on February 12th.

Japan's Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. has ordered three Post-Panamax container ships for delivery between March and September 2001. The three ships, to be built by Japanese shipyard Imabari Shipbuilding Co Ltd., will have a capacity of 5,500 teu. The ships would be deployed in the company's Asia-North Europe service run with partners APL and Hyundai Merchant Marine.