Rate pressure expected on Med trades as added capacity undermines demand Wednesday, 08.Feb.2012, 00:37 (GMT+3) CONTAINER shipping lines have been scrambling to add capacity through
the launch of new services on the Far East-Mediterranean trades despite
projected slack demand this year.
CONTAINER shipping lines have been scrambling to add capacity through
the launch of new services on the Far East-Mediterranean trades despite
projected slack demand this year.
Shipping lines are expected to add 30,000 TEU of weekly capacity to the
Far East-Mediterranean trade over the next three months, representing a
growth of 25 per cent, according to Alphaliner.
"These capacity additions could jeopardise the rate restoration efforts
of carriers planned from March 1, especially on services to the
Mediterranean," said the Paris based maritime consultancy.
Over the same period, two of the Far East-north Europe strings will be
removed, namely, the Maersk/CMA CGM AE-8/FAL 5. The last sailing was
scheduled for January 22, plus UASC's AEC 2 service, which makes its
last sailing on February 13.
The report noted that Maersk Line is will launch a new high capacity Far
East-Mediterranean loop, the AE-20 from on February 19. This will add
13,000 TEU weekly to the trade. It said that part of this capacity has
been shifted from the Far East-North Europe loops that will cease to
wayport in the Mediterranean region.
Later in March MSC and CMA CGM plan to jointly offer a new loop, the Falcon/FAL-9, with a weekly capacity of 9,500 TEU.
The G6 shipping lines, APL, Hapag-Lloyd, HMM, MOL, NYK and OOCL, are
starting in April a new Loop 9, which will be dedicated to serving the
Far East to East Mediterranean trade. It said that this new loop is
forecast to add 6,500 TEU per week to the trade.
Furthermore, capacity is expected to be added to a number of existing
loops over the next two months. Alphaliner said UASC and CSCL will
deploy 6,900-8,000 TEU ships on their joint AMC1/AMX1 service to replace
the existing 5,600-TEU vessels.
The three CKYH operated strings, MD1/MD2/MD3, are also expected to see
capacity increases of about 10 per cent, the report added.
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