Carriers make cuts on Asia-Mexico/South America west coast trade

HAMBURG SUD and CCNI together with China Shipping Container Line, Hanjin Shipping and Hyundai Merchant Marine have agreed to rationalise their three Asia and Mexico/South America West Coast loops into two during the slack winter container shipping season.

The service rationalisation of the two Hamburg Sud-CCNI loops (CEX/NAX) and the Hanjin-HMM-CSCL service (ALW/NPX) will take effect from mid-November, said a statement from the German shipping line.


Sling 1 of the amended service will see the deployment of eleven 5,500-TEU vessels, of which Hamburg Sud is to provide ten and CCNI one ship. The port rotation is Keelung, Hong Kong, Xiamen, Ningbo, Shanghai, Busan, Lazaro Cardenas, Manzanillo, Buenaventura, Callao, Iquique, Puerto Angamos, Valparaiso and back to Keelung.


The first sailing of Sling 1 is expected to be operated by the Monte Aconcagua, which is set to depart from Hong Kong on November 17. Sling 2 will commence on November 20 with the sailing of the Hanjin Santos.


For Sling 2, ten ships with a capacity between 3,100 and 4,500 TEU will be deployed. Of these, CCNI, China Shipping and Hanjin will each provide three vessels and Hyundai one.


The Sling 2 port rotation is Ningbo, Shanghai, Shenzhen-Shekou, Hong Kong, Busan, Manzanillo, Buenaventura, Guayaquil, Puerto Angamos, Valparaiso, San Vicente, Manzanillo, Busan and Shanghai.


A report by Alphaliner said the move will remove 1,500-TEU of weekly capacity from the trade bringing the total down to 9,500 TEU.