CMA CGM postpones deployment of 18,000-TEU ships in transpacific

The decision is a reversal of plans announced in March, when the ocean carrier said it would deploy its flagship fleet of six, 18,000-TEU containerships between Asia and the United States West Coast starting in May.    CMA CGM is postponing its decision to deploy a string of 18,000-TEU ships on the transpacific trade, the French ocean carrier said Thursday.
   Since last December, CMA CGM has carried out several experimental sailings from Asia to the West Coast ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach and Seattle with its  CMA CGM Benjamin Franklin.
   In fact, tomorrow, the CMA CGM Benjamin Franklin is scheduled to call at the Global Gateway South Terminal at the Port of Los Angeles. The terminal is operated by a subsidiary of APL, which CMA CGM is in the process of acquiring.
   “Considering the current transpacific market situation and in order to optimize the use of its fleet, the CMA CGM Group has decided to postpone its project to deploy 18,000 TEU-capacity vessels on this trade,” CMA CGM said Thursday.
   The decision is a reversal of plans announced in March, when the carrier said it would deploy its flagship fleet of six, 18,000-TEU containerships between Asia and the United States West Coast starting in May.
   It had wanted to do that because the Asia-U.S. trade is currently more “dynamic” than the Asia-Europe trade. CMA CGM says its volumes to the U.S. grew 30 percent in 2015 alone.
   The company did not elaborate on why it had changed plans so quickly.