Maersk, CMA CGM and Hanjin suspend Asia-US east coast service

MAERSK, CMA CGM, and Hanjin have announced the end of their China, Korea, US east coast service via Panama with the September 27 sailing of the last eastbound ship from Ningbo.
This allows the three lines to rationalise existing services and capacity to meet market needs, said a CMA CGM statement.
This loop has been operated by eight 5,100-TEU ships in the Hudson Service that called on Ningbo, Shanghai, Qingdao, Busan, Balboa, Savannah, New York and Miami.
Future coverage of these ports will be done through existing services already operated either independently by CMA CGM or in a venture with partner such as Maersk in the Columbus Service.
"This rationalisation of port coverage and slot supply corresponds to the actual trend demand observed on the Asia-US market since beginning 2009. Suspension of services is in our mind a temporary move. We are fairly confident that the North America trade will rebound in the near future," said CMA CGM vice president Jean-Philippe Thenoz.