G6 Alliance voids Asia-Europe sailings

The ocean carrier members of the G6 Alliance will cancel four additional sailings in the Asia to Europe trade, one each on their Loop 4, Loop 5, Loop 6 and Loop 7 services.    The G6 shipping Alliance will void four additional sailings in response to low demand by shippers in the Asia-Europe trade lane, according to a statement from its ocean carrier members. In addition, the alliance said it would continue to review its “product portfolio.”
   G6 member carriers have reported week demand on the route. OOCL, for example, said it carried 224,004 TEUs between Asia and Europe in the second quarter of 2015, 11.8 percent fewer than in the same 2014 period. In the first quarter, OOCL’s Asia-Europe volumes were 464,335 TEUs, down 3.4 percent from the year before.
   The G6 Alliance, which includes APL, Hapag-Lloyd, Hyundai Merchant Marine, MOL NYK and OOCL, said the following void sailings are planned for the subsequent services and weeks:

• Loop 6 service in week 40 (westbound ETA Kaohsiung, 01 October 2015). Kaohsiung will be added as a westbound call, while Jebel Ali will be inserted on the eastbound leg of Loop 7. The westbound Colombo and Xiamen calls will be added into Loop 4.
• Loop 7 service in week 41 (westbound ETA Qingdao 05 October 2015). Qingdao will be added to Loop 4 on the westbound leg in the corresponding week, while Gdansk, Gothenburg and Antwerp calls will be covered by Loop 5 on the eastbound direction during the same timeframe.
• Loop 4 service in week 42 (westbound ETA Ningbo 16 October 2015). The westbound Le Havre call will be covered by Loop 6 in the respective week.
• Loop 5 service in week 43 (westbound ETA Kwangyang 23 October 2015). The westbound Kwangyang and Pusan calls will be added in other loops in the respective week.