Grand cuts Asia/Europe loop for winter

Grand cuts Asia/Europe loop for winter    Grand Alliance carriers on Wednesday confirmed long-rumored plans to cull the number of services between Asia and Europe from four to three during the winter.
   The revised service offering by Grand Alliance members Hapag-Lloyd, NYK Line and OOCL also means the three remaining loops will be operated with ships averaging at least 7,860 TEUs. The carriers are renaming their services Loop A, B and C, instead of the former moniker EU 1, 2, 3 and 4.
   Loop A will have a rotation of Kobe, Nagoya, Tokyo, Shimizu, Yantian, Hong Kong, Singapore, Jeddah, Suez Canal, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Southampton, Le Havre, Suez Canal, Singapore, Hong Kong, Yantian and Kobe. The service will be operated with nine vessels with a capacity of about 8,600 TEUs each, with the revised rotation due to begin Dec. 28 from Kobe.
   Loop B will, as of Jan. 2, have a rotation of Dalian, Xingang, Pusan, Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, Shekou, Singapore, Suez Canal, Hamburg, Antwerp, Southampton, Cagliari, Suez Canal, Jeddah, Jebel Ali, Singapore, Shekou, Qingdao, Pusan and Dalian. The service will be operated with 12 8,300-TEU vessels.
   Loop C will, as of Jan. 1, have a rotation of Ningbo, Shanghai, Xiamen, Kaohsiung, Shekou, Hong Kong, Singapore, Port Kelang, Suez Canal, Southampton, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Southampton, Suez Canal, Singapore, Shekou, Hong Kong, Kaohsiung and Ningbo. The service will be operated with 10 vessels of 7,860 TEUs.
   The revised loops are intended to cover for ports omitted through the reduction of the one service, the carriers said.
   The new rotations don't closely parallel any existing rotations, though it looks as though the former EU1 (an express service from Japan to northern Europe via Singapore) has essentially been removed, with calls in Japan from that service overlaid onto the new Loop A. Of note, calls to Amsterdam will also disappear.
   It also appears all three revised loops will transit eastbound through the Suez Canal. Currently, the GA's EU3 returns from Europe via the Cape of Good Hope.
   The amendments to the EU series of services do not affect the Grand Alliance’s Asia/Mediterranean service, dubbed EU M, nor an arrangement the alliance has to take slots on Zim’s 10-ship Asia/Black Sea EMX loop.
   Aside from the revised three loops, the alliance carriers also have a service arrangement with the New World Alliance to share space on their AEX and SCX services between the Far East and northern Europe. ' Eric Johnson