Tag: <span>Container Liners</span>

The Gemini Cooperation diverted two US-flag vessels in a trans-Pacific service away from China due to that country’s retaliatory port fees, with one of the alliance partners warning of a multimillion-dollar hit that carriers face on US-flag ships because of the fees.

Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd advised customers on Tuesday that two US-flag ships in their jointly-operated TP7/WC5 service will no longer call Ningbo. This week’s voyage of Hapag-Lloyd’s Potomac Express will discharge westbound cargo for China in Busan, South Korea, and then be transshipped on another ship. The Denmark-flagged Maersk Luz will carry outbound freight from Ningbo to South Korea’s Kwangyang port, which will then be loaded on the Potomac Express.

Next week’s voyage of the Maersk Kinloss will also discharge westbound China cargo in South Korea for transshipment on an unidentified ship, with eastbound cargo from Ningbo being shipped on a Gemini shuttle ship.

The service switch-up comes as China’s recently unveiled port fees on US-flag ships went into effect on Oct. 14, the same day as similar US port fees took effect on Chinese-built ships and carriers. While China has exempted US-flag ships built in China from the fees, both of Gemini’s affected ships were built in South Korea.

China plans to charge US-flag, non-Chinese vessels $56 per net ton, approximately similar to what the US is levying. Based on their net tonnage, each of the Gemini ships would incur a $2.5 million charge.

Hapag-Lloyd looks to adjust

Stuart Sandlin, Hapag-Lloyd’s North American president, said Wednesday at the Virginia Maritime Association trade conference in Norfolk that the carrier’s five US-flagged, South Korean-built ships would face a total of $125 million in Chinese port fees annually. The US-flag international fleet can also carry commercial cargo to and from China, in addition to any government or military cargo for other Asian countries. Sandlin said Hapag-Lloyd is now looking at how to split up that business to avoid the fees.

“We have a US-flag group, and we have a non-US-flag group, and that makes it a lot more difficult because of the current geopolitical situation,” he said. “We’re working to see how we actually manage through that.”

There are currently 57 ships in the US-flag international fleet, according to Sea-web, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&P Global. Those US-flag ships made 163 calls globally year to date. The US-flag Matson Waikiki, which called Shanghai on Tuesday, faces a $1.7 million fee.

Among US-flag carriers, CMA CGM’s APL division runs the only fleet solely built in China.

Source: JOC

The prospect of a ceasefire has also sent Maersk’s shares down to their lowest level since June.

Maersk will consider resuming transport through the Red Sea where attacks on merchant ships since the end of 2023 have forced container shipping companies, among others, to reroute south of Africa.

“We will consider resuming transport through the Red Sea once a long-term and sustainable security solution has been established,” Maersk told Reuters in the wake of the latest news about a peace plan for Gaza.

On Thursday, Israel and Hamas agreed on the first phase of a peace plan for Gaza, orchestrated by US President Donald Trump.

This gives hope that Yemen’s Iran-allied Houthi forces may stop their attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea. However, the Houthis have not yet commented on the ceasefire agreement or signaled any change in policy.

“There is a clear link between the security risk in the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the conflict in Gaza, but it is too early to assess how progress in Gaza will affect the situation in the Red Sea,” Maersk says, according to Reuters.

The Bab al-Mandab Strait connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and forms the entrance to the Suez Canal from where ships can take a shortcut to the Mediterranean.

The Houthi movement recently told ShippingWatch that it will only stop its attacks in the Red Sea once the war in Gaza is over.

It states that the group’s “military operations,” which are in response to Israel’s “gruesome massacres” and “unjust siege,” are directly linked to developments in Gaza.

“Therefore, the cessation of these supportive military operations is conditional on a complete and actual cessation of the aggression against Gaza,” the movement’s communications unit HOCC said in a written response to ShippingWatch.

Details please refer to the ShippingWatch news.

Source: SHIPPINGWATCH

CMA CGM has announced the launch of the 2025 Cherry Express Service.

This service dedicated to cherry exports out of Chile has been designed to provide an outstanding transit time of 23 days between San Antonio, Chile and Shanghai, China.

Please note the following rotation adjustments for ACSA 1 and M2X during the service period:

ACSA 1 Rotation Adjustment: Shanghai → Ningbo → Qingdao → Busan → Callao → Chancay → San Antonio → Shanghai

M2X Rotation Adjustment: Shekou → Ningbo → Shanghai → Tianjin → Qingdao → Busan →Manzanillo → Lazaro Cardenas → Posorja → Buenaventura → Yokohama → Busan → Shekou

Source: AJOT

The Gemini Cooperation is 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, Gemini partners Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd said Wednesday.

The suspension of the T9/WC6 service, which Gemini introduced to take advantage of a tariff-induced volume surge, comes after Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd 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

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

Ocean Network Express (ONE) will implement adjustments to its Asia–North America services beginning October 2025.

The PS5 (Pacific South Loop 5) was temporarily suspended, with the final voyage being the NYK Constellation V0105E/W, which arrived in Qingdao on 1 September 2025.

The PS4 will add Ningbo to its schedule and remove Xiamen; shipments to Xiamen may instead use the PS7 service.

The PS6 loop will now include Qingdao in the port rotation, commencing with the HMM Topaz V.0008E/W, scheduled to arrive in Qingdao on 27 September 2025.

On the FP2 route, Pusan will be added, starting with the ONE Cygnus V.0022E/W, arriving in Singapore on 29 September 2025.

The EC2 service will expand to incorporate Norfolk, with the initial sailing on the ONE Blue Jay V.0039E/W, arriving in Xiamen on 7 October 2025.

Recently, Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) also announced adjustments to its Asia–North America services, including the suspension of one loop and revisions to several others.

Source: PORT TECHNOLOGY

Container lines are taking preemptive steps to reduce their exposure to hefty tariffs on Chinese-built and -operated vessels calling US ports that take effect in mid-October.

The Premier Alliance of Ocean Network Express (ONE), HMM and Yang Ming Marine Transport is revamping a trans-Pacific service to avoid the US Trade Representative’s fees, and other major carriers are expected to follow suit.

Carriers say the deployment of non-China-built ships won’t be the most efficient for their networks but balk at fees that will initially equate to $1 million per voyage. The savings that come from removing China-built vessels from US services could increase to ultimately more than $500 million per year by April 2028, as the severity of the tariffs ratchets up over the next three years.

Ocean Network Express and HMM have confirmed that the Asia-Mediterranean segment of the current Mediterranean Pacific South 2 (MS2) service will operate as a standalone service, renamed Mediterranean 2 (MD2), starting early next month. The trans-Pacific leg of the MS2 will be incorporated into the alliance’s existing Asia Gulf Express 2 service, which will be rebranded as the Gulf Pacific South 2 (GS2) as of next week, limiting the deployment of 10 Chinese-built ONE container ships currently operating the MS2 service to the shortened MD2 route.

According to ONE service schedules, these vessels include seven 15,300-TEU ships built by Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Group, China’s largest privately owned shipyard, and three built by state-controlled China State Shipbuilding Corp.

Yang Ming Marine Transport has yet to announce the changes, which stand to save ONE an estimated $185 million in tariffs in the first year after the levy is implemented on Oct. 14.

With each of the MS2 deployed vessels assessed at about 74,000 net tons, ONE would face a bill of $3.7 million per ship per voyage, maxing out at $18.5 million for each of the 10 ships — a total of $185 million — after five voyages.

In announcing the MS2 service adjustment, ONE and HMM said the changes would improve connectivity and transit times to certain markets.

HMM said the new Mediterranean Service 2 (MD2) would provide an express service from western Mediterranean to Busan and central China. Similarly, GS2 — which HMM calls the Korea Middle East–Pacific South (KMP) loop — will provide direct services from Dubai to the US West Coast and the US West Coast to Dalian and Xingang, HMM said.

Details please refer to the JOC news.

Source: JOC