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Maersk Line has signed a vessel sharing agreement (VSA) with Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) and CMA-CGM in the transpacific trade that will commence next month.
This co-operation will consist of three strings of five vessels each between Asia and North America. They will replace Maersk Line's TP5 and TP8, MSC's New Orient Express and CMA-CGM's Yang Tse Service.
The first string of this VSA will serve a port call rotation of Yantian, Kaohsiung, Shanghai, Qingdao, Los Angeles and Hong Kong, with five 8,000 TEU vessels. Four of these vessels will be operated by Maersk Line and the remaining vessel by CMA-CGM.
The first string of the VSA, as the southern loop, is scheduled for its initial eastbound call at Shanghai on April 14. The first westbound call starts on April 29 from Los Angeles.
The second string of this VSA will also consist of five 8,000 TEU vessels, four of which will be operated by MSC and one by CMA-CGM. This string will call a rotation of Dalian, Xingang, Shanghai, Ningbo, Los Angeles, Oakland and Dalian. This service is scheduled for its first eastbound call at Dalian on April 7. The first westbound call is in Long Beach on April 27.
The third string of this VSA will be created with the redeployment of five 4,000 TEU vessels operated by Maersk Line under the US flag calling the ports of Kwangyang, Busan, Kobe, Shimizu, Nagoya, Yokohama, Los Angeles, and Oakland. MSC and CMA-CGM will participate in this string through a slot agreement. The initial westbound schedule starts on March 25 in Los Angeles. The eastbound schedule starts in Kwangyang on April 12.
All of these strings will offer an improved eastbound product with shorter transit times out of Northern China and vastly improved westbound products adding non-restricted corridors into Kaohsiung, Hong Kong and Yantian for both import and export cargo.
CargonewsAsia
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