Hanjin/COSCO join Maersk Europe-ECSA loop

   Maersk Line said this week Hanjin Shipping and COSCO Container Lines have agreed to purchase slots on its Samba service between Europe and the east coast of South America.
   The slot buying deal starts in March, Maersk said, though it didn’t specify the allocations to the two carriers, which are partners on the CKYH Alliance.
   The Samba service has a rotation of Tilbury, Rotterdam, Bremerhaven, Algeciras, Santos, Paranagua, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Santos, Pecem, and Tilbury. The service is currently operated with seven vessels (five from Maersk and two from its subsidiary Safmarine) with an average capacity of 3,084 TEUs, according to American Shipper affiliate ComPair Data.
   No other lines currently take slots on the service.
   Hanjin’s and COSCO’s current exposure to the trade comes through their capacity on the ESE service, which they operate jointly with UASC and CCNI. The service has a rotation of Rotterdam, Hamburg, Antwerp, Rio de Janeiro, Santos, Paranagua, Itajai, Santos, Algeciras, and Rotterdam. It’s operated with six vessels (two each from Hanjin and UASC and one each from COSCO and CCNI) with an average capacity of 2,634 TEUs.
   It’s not clear if the slot buying deal with Maersk will affect that service.