APL alters Asia-India Subcontinent service network

The ocean carrier announced it will split the AS1 while also making port adjustments to the CIX and CI3 services within its India Subcontinent container service network.    APL is making changes to five Asia-India Subcontinent container services for faster turnaround and transit times, the ocean carrier said in a statement. 
   The Asia Subcontinent Express (AS1) service is being split into two loops, the AS1 and Asia Subcontinent Express 3 (AS3). APL said this service revamp will shorten the current 49-day round trip of the AS1 service to 42 days while the AS3 service will cover its route in 35 days.
   The revamped AS1 service will feature an added call to Mundra and will remove a second call to Karachi on the current port rotation. The service will sail on a weekly frequency with six vessels co-operated by APL and CMA CGM with an average capacity of 5,665 TEUs. The port rotation for the new AS1 will be Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, Shekou, Singapore, Port Klang, Mundra, Karachi, Port Qasim, Singapore, and back to Qingdao. The first sailing of the new rotation will occur with the APL Antwerp in mid-December.
   The new AS3 service will have a port rotation of Shanghai, Ningbo, Xiamen, Singapore, Karachi, and back to Shanghai. The service will sail with five vessels on a weekly frequency starting in mid-December with the 4,832-TEU APL Japan.
   APL will also join ocean carriers Yang Ming and OOCL on their CPX service starting in mid-December with the YM Orchid. The service will sail on a weekly frequency with six vessels of an average capacity of 5,512 TEUs. APL will call it the AS5. The CPX is also dropping a call to Hazira Gujarat, leaving a revised port rotation of Shanghai, Ningbo, Shekou, Singapore, Karachi, Mundra, Port Klang, Singapore, Hong Kong and back to Singapore.
   The revamped CIX service will remove a call to Ningbo, while adding a call to Nansha, giving the service a port rotation of Shanghai, Xiamen, Hong Kong, Shekou, Nansha, Singapore, Colombo, Nhava Sheva, Pipavav, Colombo, Port Klang, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Shanghai, with the first sailing starting mid-December with the Zim Los Angeles. The CIX will sail with six vessels operated by APL, OOCL and ZIM, with an average capacity of 8,528 TEUs.
   In addition, APL will join the Maersk-operated FI3 service as a slot purchaser, calling it the CI3. APL will join in mid-December with the sailing of the Maersk Salina, one of the seven vessels operated by Maersk on the loop with an average vessel capacity of 8,742 TEUs. The new port rotation will remove calls to Nansha and Mundra while adding a call to Pipavav, making the revised port rotation Xingang, Dalian, Qingdao, Pusan, Kwangyang, Ningbo, Singapore, Tanjong Pelepas, Colombo, Nhava Sheva, Pipavav, Singapore and Xingang.