“K” LINE AND YANG MING TO COMBINE TWO ASIA/EUROPE LOOPS DURING SLACK PERIOD

“K” LINE AND YANG MING TO COMBINE TWO ASIA/EUROPE LOOPS DURING SLACK PERIOD

“K” LINE AND YANG MING TO COMBINE TWO ASIA/EUROPE LOOPS DURING SLACK PERIOD

   “K” Line and Yang Ming Line will merge two Asia/northern Europe services into one for a temporary period in January.
   “K” Line said that the move is designed to improve space utilization during the traditional slack period, including the period following Chinese New Year period in February.
   During the period, the combined service will have a tentative port rotation of Kobe, Nagoya, Tokyo, Ningbo, Ishigaki, Kaohsiung, Hong Kong, Yantian, Singapore, Port Said, Rotterdam, Felixstowe, Hamburg, Antwerp, Port Said, Singapore, Hong Kong, Kaohsiung and Kobe. The service will employ eight ships of 5,500-TEU capacity. Service for the port of Le Havre will be offered by transshipment.
   In March, both carriers will also revamp some of their Asia/Europe and transpacific services, by introducing a transpacific/Asia-Europe “pendulum” service. The “PSW-1/AES-1” U.S./Asia/Europe service, using 12 ships of 5,500 TEUs, will replace the current “K” Line “CALCO-A” transpacific link and the Yang Ming “Asia Express” Asia/Europe loop.
   Yang Ming, “K” Line and other carriers are facing substantial over-capacity in the Asia/Europe and transpacific trades.