SINOTRANS EXITS ASIA/EUROPE CONTAINER TRADE

SINOTRANS EXITS ASIA/EUROPE CONTAINER TRADE    Sinotrans, China’s large forwarding and shipping group, will cease its carrier operations in the Asia/Europe container market in January.
   An executive at Sinotrans’ liner agency in Germany confirmed that the decision has been made recently to withdraw from the trade.
   The Chinese company’s carrier arm, Sinotrans Container Lines, has operated two weekly Asia/Europe liner services: one under a vessel-sharing agreement, called CEX, and the other a slot-charter agreement on COSCO ships, called CEU.
   Sinotrans has been a relatively small player on the high-volume Asia/Europe route. The exit by the Chinese company follows National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia’s withdrawal from the very competitive Asia/Europe container trade in April of this year and Cho Yang’s suspension of all its east/west services in 2001.
   According to the global liner shipping database ComPairData, there are currently 34 liner carriers active in the Asia/Europe container trade, including Sinotrans.