The Grand Alliance is losing one of its four carrier members, MISC Berhad (Malaysia), which said it is withdrawing from the group as of Jan. 1.
MISC’s decision to quit the alliance came in an announcement of the cuts in winter services to the U.S. West Coast by the remaining three members, Hapag-Lloyd, NYK Line and OOCL.
MISC’s departure will have little effect on the alliance’s services because it did not put its own vessels into the trans-Pacific or trans-Atlantic services. The line had already announced last May that it would no longer participate in the alliance’s Asia-Europe services as of Jan. 1.
The winter service reductions on the trans-Pacific, which the three alliance carriers said are intended “to ensure continuation of the service network by adjusting capacity to the seasonal demand,” will take effect at the end of December and last “at least” throughout the winter. The alliance previously announced on Nov. 19 its service reductions on the trans-Atlantic, which started as of Dec. 1.
The Central China Express service will be temporarily replaced by a combined service with the Northwest Express (NWX) service. In the newly combined loop, the Grand Alliance will provide a total of six 6,200- to 7,600-container size vessels.
The port rotation of the NWX during winter program will be: Ningbo, Shanghai, Qingdao, Pusan, Seattle (for discharge), Vancouver (for discharge), Los Angeles, Seattle (for loading), Vancouver (for loading), Tokyo, Nagoya, Kobe, Pusan and back to Ningbo.
The Super Shuttle Express (SSX) will provide enhanced coverage including a new call at Shanghai. Grand Alliance will maintain provision of five 7,600-TEU vessels.
The new port rotation of the SSX during winter program will be:
Shekou , Yantian , Hong Kong , Kaohsiung , Shanghai , Long Beach , Kaohsiung , Xiamen , Hong Kong and back to Shekou.
The Journal of Commerce Online
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