CKYHS ALLIANCE DISCUSSES CAPACITY CUTS ON ATLANTIC ROUTES
Shipping lines of the COSCO/”K” Line/Yang Ming/Hanjin/Senator alliance are discussing a plan to combine two transatlantic services early next year to rationalize their vessel deployment.
Under the plan, the five Asian carriers would restructure two Asia/U.S. East Coast/north Europe/U.S. East Coast/Asia “pendulum” services — the COSCO/”K” Line/Yang Ming “AUE” service and the Hanjin/Senator “AWP” link. These two operations would be shortened to an Asia/U.S. East Coast rotation, with vessels turning around on the U.S. East Coast, rather than sailing on to Europe.
The transatlantic legs of the two existing pendulum services would be picked up by a new end-to-end U.S. South Atlantic/North Atlantic/north Europe service.
The AUE and AWP pendulum services currently provide a weekly capacity of about 3,000 TEUs each. Their total capacity would be cut by using a single string of vessels of about 3,400 TEUs.
A source close to the carriers said that the lines are trying to lower their costs in the difficult transatlantic market. The carriers’ other transatlantic services, including those operated under a slot charter with CP Ships and the Grand Alliance, would not be affected by the changes.
In April, joint service partners COSCO, “K” Line and Yang Ming withdrew five ships with about 2,000-TEU capacity from the transatlantic and chartered space on two CP Ships/Grand Alliance services instead, in an attempt to remove surplus tonnage and cut costs.
The planned service restructuring on the Pacific and Atlantic routes also represents a further integration of the five-carrier alliance. The CKYHS alliance started operating earlier this year with a mixture of joint and independently operated liner services.
The port rotations of the planned joint services have not been finalized.
If confirmed, the service changes will affect several other carriers that are taking space on the services involved. Compania Sud Americana de Vapores and Norasia currently take slots on the transatlantic leg of the AWP service. Zim Israel Navigation takes space on the transatlantic portion of the AUE service.