Grand, New World to split Asia/Europe loop

Grand, New World to split Asia/Europe loop    Carriers in the Grand and New World alliances will split a jointly operated Far East/northern Europe loop into two separate services at the end of July.
   The current service, which Grand alliance carriers call Loop D and New World carriers call CEX, was merged in March, with each alliance providing five ships of 5,700 TEUs to 7,500 TEUs.
   Prior to that merger, each alliance offered four loops between the Far East and northern Europe — though the Grand Alliance in late 2009 renamed its Asia/Europe loops from the previous moniker EU.
   The Grand Alliance's standalone Loop D will be operated with 10 of its own ships (alliance carriers are Hapag-Lloyd, NYK Line and OOCL), and will include a call at Busan that didn't exist in the old EU4, which was changed to Loop D and merged with the NWA service. The rotation will be Busan, Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, Shekou, Yantian, Singapore, Southampton, Le Havre, Hamburg, Rotterdam, Port Said, Singapore, Shanghai and Busan.
   Meanwhile, New World Alliance carriers APL, Hyundai Merchant Marine, and MOL will operate their CEX with 10 6,400-TEU ships, nine provided by APL and one by MOL, with a rotation of Shanghai, Hong Kong, Yantian, Singapore, Salalah, Le Havre, Southampton, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Singapore, Chiwan, Qingdao and Shanghai, according to the maritime news service Alphaliner.
   The two alliances jointly operate one other service from Asia to Europe — the EU M/Med between the Far East and Mediterranean ports — but, according to American Shipper affiliate ComPair Data, also share slots on three others:
   ' The New World Alliance's SCX and AEX services between Asia and northern Europe.
   ' The Grand Alliance's Loop B pendulum between Asia, northern Europe then back through Asia to the U.S. West Coast.
   Alphaliner said the split services will add around 6,400 TEUs of weekly capacity to the trade.