Month: <span>May 2025</span>

HMM has teamed up with Singapore’s Pacific International Lines and X-Press Feeders to launch a weekly North China-Singapore-Indonesia service beginning next month as part of a wider plan by HMM to expand its network beyond its core long-haul services.

The new China-Singapore-Indonesia service will be inaugurated from Tianjin on June 19, Seoul-based HMM said in a statement Monday, adding the loop would enhance its “competitiveness in the Indonesian market and strengthen feeder connectivity to … long-haul trades.”

Surendran Mathilagath, general manager for Pacific International Lines’ intra-Asia services, said the service is “designed to support our customers in meeting the growing demand in Asia for both dry and reefer trades.”

The three carriers will deploy a total of five vessels ranging between 4,000 TEUs and 5,000 TEUs, with the full rotation for the 35-day roundtrip voyage being Tianjin, Qingdao, Xiamen, Singapore, Jakarta, Surabaya, Singapore and Tianjin.

Surge in intra-Asia connectivity over past year

The new service comes amid a year-over-year surge in intra-Asia connectivity, with double-digit increases in the number of services between China and key markets including Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore. According to figures from transport consultancy MDS Transmodal, that includes an 18% gain, from 131 to 154, in the number of services between China and Vietnam from the second quarter of last year to the current quarter.

The new service also continues a trend of mainline carriers teaming up with regional players on intra-Asia services. This year alone that includes Taiwan’s Yang Ming Marine Transport linking with Taiwanese feeder operator Interasia Lines and Hong Kong-listed TS Lines to launch a Japan-Taiwan-China-Vietnam service; Ocean Network Express partnering with Indonesian carrier Samudera Shipping Line on an extended Thailand-India-Gulf (TIG) service; and Evergreen Marine teaming with Wan Hai Lines, Thailand’s Regional Container Lines and Singapore-based Bengal Tiger Line on a Vietnam-Thailand-East Coast India service.

Details please refer to the JOC news.

Source: JOC

CMA CGM appears to be the first carrier among mainline heavyweights making a firm bid to return to the traditional — and significantly shorter — Suez Canal route that remains a tricky proposition for the industry despite recent reports of a de-escalation of hostilities in the Red Sea.

The Marseille-based carrier has finalized operational plans to shift vessels deployed on its India-Middle East-Mediterranean service, named the MEDEX, back to the normal sailing journey through the Suez beginning next month, new schedule data obtained by the Journal of Commerce from industry sources reveals.

The first vessel marking the routing change will be the CMA CGM Palleas, departing India’s Nhava Sheva Port on June 7 and transiting the Suez June 28. That sailing will be followed by the CMA CGM Nabucco and CMA CGM Titus, due to transit the Suez on July 5 and July 12, respectively, sources say.

The weekly MEDEX deploys a fleet of 10 CMA CGM ships, with Cosco Shipping co-loading on the service through slot charter rights that sources put at approximately 1,000 TEUs per week out of the Indian region, including Sri Lanka’s Colombo Port.

Sources at CMA CGM and Cosco in India who spoke with the Journal of Commerce confirmed the resumption of the Suez rotation for the MEDEX service.

Despite CMA CGM’s apparent return to the Suez, the route is still viewed as a risk by other major liners. Maersk has ruled out a return to Red Sea transits this year, saying Trump’s announcement about the Houthis standing down was still “pretty far” from the threshold that would make the carrier comfortable in resuming Suez transits.

Details please refer to the JOC news.

Source: JOC

Zim Integrated Shipping Services is relaunching a suspended service from China to Los Angeles due to the demand revival amid the 90-day pause in the tariff spat between Washington and Beijing but has nonetheless downgraded its volume expectations for the trans-Pacific trade.

The Zim Central China Xpress, connecting Los Angeles with Ningo and Shanghai, will restart next week, the carrier said Monday, little more than a month after Zim announced its suspension on April 22 as part of the carrier’s broader 30% to 35% trim in its trans-Pacific network.

Zim’s volumes from China halved after President Donald Trump on April 9 announced 145% tariffs on Beijing, although an influx of imports from Vietnam and Thailand helped mitigate the plunge.

The sudden decline in US import booking has spurred Zim to downgrade its 2025 outlook for growth on the trans-Pacific to low single digits compared with its original forecast of high-single-digit growth. The market is at the highest level of uncertainty in recent memory, and the health of volumes for the rest of the year hinges on the extent of US tariffs on Chinese imports, Zim CEO Xavier Destriau told the Journal of Commerce.

While there is a threat that a rebound in imports from China could overwhelm US West Coast ports, Destriau said the US marine terminals Zim is calling are fluid.

“But at some point, there is a risk of port congestion, if indeed, there is a surge in volume and a surge of capacity potentially also being redeployed due to newly recovered attractiveness of the trade,” he said.

Details please refer to the JOC news.

Source: The JOC news

Zim Integrated Shipping looks to withdraw capacity from an Asia-US Gulf Coast service it operates with Mediterranean Shipping Co. (MSC) in response to a “drastic drop” in trans-Pacific cargo bookings. The withdrawal and other changes show how the Trump administration’s tariffs against China continue to redraw container services.

In a Federal Maritime Commission filing last week, MSC and Zim said they were making interim changes to their vessel sharing agreement (VSA) struck last September for six trans-Pacific services to US East and Gulf coasts. The interim changes, which take effect next week, were made “in light of the drastic drop in demand resulting from current trade conditions.”

The interim change will affect Zim’s South Lotus service that MSC jointly operates as its Lone Star Express service. Under the new arrangement, Zim will provide three ships to the 13-ship rotation. Zim originally provided up to six ships under the earlier VSA, which started out as a 12-ship string.

MSC will provide all the Lone Star capacity by early fall, although Zim will have the option to contribute up to four ships. Zim’s container slot allocation on other services under the VSA will also be lower under the temporary arrangement.

The ports served under the VSA were also changed to include Indonesia and Taiwan, along with the existing Asia port network of China, Vietnam, South Korea, Thailand and Singapore. Last week, MSC and Zim announced that their Emerald-Xpress Boston service would add a call in Taiwan.

Evergreen Marine offers Taiwan service into the East Coast, as does the jointly operated Hapag-Lloyd and Wan Hai AA7 service, but carriers have rarely offered direct service from Indonesia. Maersk was the last to try in 2022, but it suspended the service a year later.

The most recent changes come after MSC and Zim announced the suspension of one East Coast and one Gulf Coast service due to the sharp drop in container bookings from China following the April 9 release of President Trump’s latest tariffs.

While the subsequent easing of those tariffs will spur a rebound in shipments from China, MSC and Zim’s recent schedules are adding calls to Southeast Asia to account for additional import sourcing shifts.

Source: The JOC news

Mediterranean Shipping Co. has halted two services from China to the US and revamped other container services to the East and Gulf coasts as the Trump administration’s tariffs against Beijing continue to weaken freight demand.

The world’s largest shipping company said in an advisory Wednesday the service suspensions and network changes were “in response to the recent changes in demand for cargo transport from Asia to the US.”

Following the Trump administration’s imposition of 145% tariffs on most Chinese imports, ocean carriers reported seeing container volumes drop by one-third. Hapag-Lloyd and US-based Matson both said volumes out of China dropped 30% after April 9 when the new China tariffs went into effect.

The affected MSC services are all part of the carrier’s 2025 network following the dissolution of the 2M Alliance with Maersk. In place of Maersk, Zim Integrated Shipping Services has signed on to share vessel space and charter slots on some of MSC’s Asia-US routes.

The suspensions include the Empire service, which calls three of China’s largest ports and the East Coast ports of New York and New Jersey, Norfolk and Baltimore. The service provided 11,500 TEUs in weekly capacity, according to a report from Hong Kong-based logistics provider Honour Lane Shipping.

MSC will also suspend the Pelican service from the Chinese ports of Xiamen and Yantian, along with Vietnam’s Vung Tau and South Korea’s Busan, and calling the Gulf Coast ports of Houston, Mobile and Tampa. Honour Lane said the Pelican service provides weekly capacity ranging between 6,500 and 8,500 TEUs.

Boost SE Asia coverage

The two service suspensions coincide with other interim changes by MSC taking effect this week on four other services that will increase port coverage of Southeast Asia and fill in coverage gaps.

The America service from Asia to the US East Coast will stop calling China’s Yantian port, MSC said, while adding a westbound call at Vietnam’s Haiphong port and an eastbound call at the Port of Colombo in Sri Lanka. The service will also add East Coast calls at the ports of Savannah and Jacksonville, while dropping a call to Norfolk.

The Amberjack service from China to the US Southeast will drop a call at China’s Nansha port but keep calling other major Chinese ports. Likewise, the Amberjack’s US rotation will now make its first two calls at the ports of New York-New Jersey and Baltimore and drop service to the Port of Wilmington, North Carolina.

MSC’s Emerald service will add an outbound call at Taiwan’s Kaohsiung port. The service’s US leg will stop calling Jacksonville and Baltimore but add calls to Norfolk and Boston.

The Lone Star service from Asia to the Gulf Coast will add a call at China’s Yantian port, along with adding calls to Singapore and Vung Tau. The service’s US rotation will drop a call at the Port of New Orleans.

The MSC suspensions, among the first big ones to hit the East and Gulf coasts, follow similar steps for West Coast services that are also heavily exposed to Chinese freight. Alphaliner reported Tuesday that MSC also suspended its Orient service to Long Beach, while OOCL suspended its Pacific South China Express service to Long Beach.

Source: The JOC news