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Yang Ming to order slate of new container ships in move to upgrade fleet

Taiwan’s Yang Ming Marine Transport will order up to 13 container ships as part of fleet optimization plans approved by the carrier’s directors Friday to replace aging vessels and expand the fleet of owned ships.

The new ships will vary in size between 8,000 TEUs and 15,000 TEUs and are likely meant for deployment on longer-haul intra-Asia and mainline east-west services.

The newbuilds are part of Yang Ming’s efforts to “optimize [our] service network and enhance fleet competitiveness,” the carrier said in a statement.

The vessels will replace 5,500- and 6,500-TEU ships that are more than 20 years old, the carrier said. Yang Ming currently operates six of that class that are 20 years and older, with a further five ships that will reach that milestone when the new vessels are likely delivered.

Yang Ming said it will evaluate energy-saving technologies and study clean energy fuel options for likely use in the new ships before orders are placed with shipyards. The ships will allow the carrier to “provide customers worldwide with more environmentally friendly transportation solutions,” it said.

The carrier gave no details of the cost or likely delivery dates of the new ships. But the fleet renewal plan comes as Yang Ming is expecting an increase both in the number of services and frequency of sailings once its Premier Alliance partnership is launched with Ocean Network Express (ONE) and HMM in February.

Yang Ming said the number of services will increase by three to 28 with new loops from Asia to Europe, Mediterranean and Pacific Southwest, while the frequency will also increase on those trades.

The carrier has also announced a raft of new services in the last few weeks. These include an India Ocean Express (ISE) service announced Friday connecting western India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan to North Europe. It will be operated in partnership with HMM and inaugurated on Feb. 5.

Yang Ming said last week it would begin a China-Thailand Express (CTE) service with OOCL from early January to strengthen their competitiveness in the intra-Asia market.

Source:

Wallis, K. (2024, December 20). Yang Ming to order slate of new container ships in move to upgrade fleet. Journal of Commerce. https://www.joc.com/article/yang-ming-to-order-slate-of-new-container-ships-in-move-to-upgrade-fleet-5909702

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Lunar cargo rush, poor weather clog major Asia ports

A pre-Lunar New Year cargo rush and bad weather causing vessel bunching are congesting major Asian ports, leading to berthing delays of up to five days, carriers and forwarders said.

The worst affected ports include Shanghai, Tokyo, Ningbo, Busan and Manila, although the length of the delays varies by container line, shipping executives told the Journal of Commerce. The congestion comes as European and North American shippers rush imports ahead of factory activity slowing down for 15 days of Lunar New Year celebrations starting Jan. 29.

Ocean Network Express said it is facing operational constraints in Tokyo because the port is “at full capacity” and berths are congested at its capital port and others in Japan, impacting intra-Asia services along with those operating the major east-west trades.

Congestion is also affecting other ports in Japan, which is affecting intra-Asia and east-west services, the carrier’s sailing schedules showed last week.

The carrier has been forced to skip calls at Keelung and Kaohsiung by the 1,708-TEU Swan River Bridge operating on its Japan-Vietnam-Haiphong service to help restore schedule reliability after the ship was five days late berthing at Tokyo last week.

Forwarders said the delays in Tokyo and other ports in Japan have been largely caused by a pre-holiday cargo rush before ports and shipping company offices close from Dec. 27 for the New Year festive break. They are not scheduled to re-open until Jan. 6, carriers said.

“In Tokyo, we are closely monitoring terminal operations as year-end closures approach. ONE has plans in place to minimize potential impacts on our services,” a spokesperson for the carrier told the Journal of Commerce.

Congestion extends to northern China

Shanghai and Ningbo are affected by weather-related delays including strong winds and fog. The current delays have been compounded in Shanghai after its Yangshan deep-water port, about 20 miles offshore from Pudong, had to close due to typhoon Kong-rey in early November.

Kuehne + Nagel said there was heavy berth congestion in Yangshan with ships either delayed or having to wait up to five days last week due to the earlier typhoon-related closure. ONE said the delays at Yangshan were also caused by high yard density.

At Shanghai’s Waigaoqiao container terminals in Pudong about 20 miles from downtown Shanghai, the average seven-day vessel waiting time is nearly three days due to heavy berth congestion at all terminals, according to K+N’s visibility platform SeaExplorer.

“Ningbo is facing approximately 1.5 days of waiting time, mainly caused by peak season congestion and weather factors,” the ONE spokesperson told the Journal of Commerce.

“The situation is improving at Shanghai and Ningbo after the typhoon, but the seasonal weather is causing delays, which is typical for this time of year,” the spokesperson added.

ONE also highlighted port-congestion-related delays at Busan, Manila and Cat Lai port in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, for service disruption and delayed sailings.

FIBS Logistics said Busan is experiencing berthing waits of approximately two days due to vessel bunching and ships arriving late from previous ports. OOCL said Busan has had “winter challenges”.

Details please refer to the JOC news.

Source:

Wallis, K. (2024a, December 16). Lunar cargo rush, poor weather clog major Asia Ports. Journal of Commerce. https://www.joc.com/article/lunar-cargo-rush-poor-weather-clog-major-asia-ports-5906170

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Wan Hai to expand US trans-Pacific services with ONE slot charter deal

Wan Hai Lines is planning to expand its trans-Pacific network after agreeing to a slot exchange deal with Ocean Network Express (ONE) on the latter’s Pacific South 6 service linking China with Long Beach and Oakland, the Taiwanese carrier said. The slot exchange will begin in February.

The launch date coincides with the start of services by the Premier Alliance formed by ONE, HMM and Yang Ming Marine Transport to replace THE Alliance following the departure of Hapag-Lloyd to join Maersk in the Gemini Cooperation.

While the launch of the Premier Alliance is now in abeyance after the US Federal Maritime Commission’s (FMC’s) announcement Friday that it will stop the partnership from going ahead while it seeks further information to assess the competitive impact, the three carriers can continue their THE Alliance group. The FMC’s agreement with THE Alliance does not expire until April 1, 2030, FMC documents show.

The port rotation given by Wan Hai reflects ONE’s existing PS6 service with calls at Shanghai-Ningbo-Long Beach-Oakland-Shanghai-Ningbo. Wan Hai said the PS6 service will “provide a direct connection from Asia to the US West Coast,” with an express 16- to 18-day transit from Shanghai to Southern California.

It will augment Wan Hai’s two existing services — its trans-Pacific West Coast AP1 service and its around-the-world US East Coast-Asia-America 7 service.

Due to the new PS6 loop, Wan Hai said it will amend the rotation of its AP1 service by dropping Shanghai and Ningbo beginning in February to improve transit times for customers in Vietnam, Taiwan and southern China. The new rotation will be Haiphong-Cai Mep (Vietnam)-Shekou-Xiamen-Taipei-Los Angeles-Oakland-Shekou-Haiphong.

Both the PS6 slot exchange and AP1 service changes are part of Wan Hai’s 2025 trans-Pacific service improvements.

Details please refer to the JOC news.

Source:

Wallis, K. (2024a, December 9). Wan Hai to expand US Trans-Pacific Services with one slot charter deal. Journal of Commerce. https://www.joc.com/article/wan-hai-to-expand-us-trans-pacific-services-with-one-slot-charter-deal-5878644