As carriers remove excess capacity from weak Asia/Europe and transpacific routes, some carriers are ramping up capacity and vessel size on north-south routes, according to American Shipper's ComPair Data affiliate.
Francis Phillips, an analyst for ComPair, points to recent developments in the Europe/East Coast South America (ECSA) trade where Mediterranean Shipping Co. has sharply increased its capacity, matching Hamburg Sud and Maersk, and in the transpacific where Maersk is poised to bring very large ships into service between North Asia and Mexico and Central America.
In Europe/East Coast South America, MSC has introduced an additional loop with ships averaging 5,500 TEUs in capacity, as big as Hamburg Sud's biggest, plus another loop with 2,800-TEU ships.
Previously MSC operated a single 4,500-TEU loop returning to North Europe via Las Palmas in the Canary Islands.
Six 5,500-TEU ships are used on MSC's Europe-ECSA1 route which offers weekly calls. Rotation is Antwerp, Rotterdam, Bremerhaven, Hamburg, Suape, Santos, Buenos Aires, Rio Grande, Santos, Itaqui and Antwerp.
Five 2,800-TEU ships are deployed on its Europe-ECSA2 route, which also offers weekly calls. Rotation is Anwerp, Bremerhaven, Vitoria, Rio de Janeiro, Navegantes, Santos, Las Palmas, Bremerhaven and Antwerp.
MSC's partners in the service have been CSAV, Libra, Senator, "K" Line, Evergreen, Maruba, and China Shipping Container Line.
CMA CGM said it will also start a new service linking the East Coast of South America to Northern Europe at the end of November.
American Shipper
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