OCEAN carriers are continuing to redeploy tonnage onto more lucrative east-west tradelanes, leaving shippers on lower-paying routes without a regular liner service.
Hardest hit is the Asia to Middle East trade by the drift of ships to other services, with no major carrier now able to offer a weekly sailing, according to Alphaliner.
The consultant said it had counted just 29 vessels deployed on the seven dedicated China-Middle East services operated by the major carriers, whereas 50 ships would be required, according to the pro-forma schedules.
'This shift continues,' said Alphaliner, pointing out that OOCL last week redeployed the 13,208 TEU OOCL Egypt from the Ocean Alliance MEA3 service to a seasonal transpacific service, operated jointly with its parent, Cosco.
It said the consequence of that was to leave the MEA3 loop with just one vessel, when it required a minimum of seven to fulfil the weekly service.
In addition, Alphaliner said the four members of THE Alliance were 'also struggling to fully equip their two Asia-Middle East loops'. But in contrast to the Ocean and THE alliances, 2M partners Maersk and MSC did not currently operate a joint Asia-Middle East dedicated service.
Several carriers have launched new services on the transpacific to cope with peak demand, including MSC, which has just announced two new weekly shuttles between China and Long Beach, commencing with the sailing of the 5,042 TEU MSC Bhavya from DaChan Bay on October 3 on its new Puma service. This will be followed by the launch of its Shanghai-Long Beach Mustang service on October 16, by the 5,018 TEU MSC Anya.
Both these panamax ships have previously been deployed on transatlantic services, reports UK's The Loadstar.
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Hardest hit is the Asia to Middle East trade by the drift of ships to other services, with no major carrier now able to offer a weekly sailing, according to Alphaliner.
The consultant said it had counted just 29 vessels deployed on the seven dedicated China-Middle East services operated by the major carriers, whereas 50 ships would be required, according to the pro-forma schedules.
'This shift continues,' said Alphaliner, pointing out that OOCL last week redeployed the 13,208 TEU OOCL Egypt from the Ocean Alliance MEA3 service to a seasonal transpacific service, operated jointly with its parent, Cosco.
It said the consequence of that was to leave the MEA3 loop with just one vessel, when it required a minimum of seven to fulfil the weekly service.
In addition, Alphaliner said the four members of THE Alliance were 'also struggling to fully equip their two Asia-Middle East loops'. But in contrast to the Ocean and THE alliances, 2M partners Maersk and MSC did not currently operate a joint Asia-Middle East dedicated service.
Several carriers have launched new services on the transpacific to cope with peak demand, including MSC, which has just announced two new weekly shuttles between China and Long Beach, commencing with the sailing of the 5,042 TEU MSC Bhavya from DaChan Bay on October 3 on its new Puma service. This will be followed by the launch of its Shanghai-Long Beach Mustang service on October 16, by the 5,018 TEU MSC Anya.
Both these panamax ships have previously been deployed on transatlantic services, reports UK's The Loadstar.
SeaNews Turkey
