Maersk on Wednesday announced it was suspending a relatively new trans-Pacific service, the latest effort by ocean carriers to adjust capacity to meet falling demand and put a floor on US inbound container spot rates.
The suspension of the T9 service, which Maersk introduced to take advantage of a tariff-induced volume surge, comes after Maersk warned customers of three blank sailings next month, reflecting a fast-shifting market. The last sailing of the TP9, which connected Xiamen, Busan and Long Beach, will depart Busan Sept. 23.
“This service was introduced over the summer to provide more capacity in those traditional peak-volume months, with a port coverage that duplicates what we have on the standing network,” a Maersk spokesperson told the Journal of Commerce Wednesday.
The suspension followed a similar announcement that the Premier Alliance of Ocean Network Express (ONE), HMM and Yang Ming would suspend its Pacific South 5 express service.
US retailers forecast import volumes will fall sharply in the fourth quarter and into January, putting pressure on carriers to remove functional capacity.
Carriers are also leaning on blank sailings to manage trans-Pacific capacity, blanking about 10% of deployed tonnage to the US West Coast in September and October, according to maritime intelligence provider eeSea. Almost 18% of deployed capacity from Asia to the East and Gulf coasts will be blanked, up from 12.8% in September.
Details please refer to the JOC news.
Source: JOC