CKYH carriers cut capacity on three major trades

CKYH carriers cut capacity on three major trades Carriers in the CKYH Alliance on Wednesday slashed transpacific, transatlantic and Asia/Europe capacity in response to declining demand, falling rates and “growing uncertainty in the world's economy.”
   The capacity cuts come on top of those implemented in mid-October in the transpacific and Mediterranean-Far East trades by the four lines that make up the alliance — COSCO, “K” Line, Yang Ming and Hanjin.
   The looming rationalization of services include an 18 percent reduction in the TAS-1 service connecting the United States and Europe. The carriers said port rotation and schedule for the service will remain the same but they will use four 2,500-TEU vessels instead of 3,000-TEU ships, beginning in the middle of November.
   Meanwhile, the alliance’s Mediterranean-Asia-America Pendulum service will be terminated from early 2009. That service, which employs 13 5,500-TEU vessels, represents around 13 percent to 15 percent of the CKYH carriers’ capacity in the Pacific Southwest trade, but the lines said they will attempt to offset the shortfall by using other services, like the South China Service (SEA), as a substitute.
   Lastly, including the Asia/Europe portion of the MAP pendulum, the carriers are taking roughly 9 percent of their capacity out of their Asia/North Europe trade by also terminating their China North Europe (CNX) service as of January 2009. The CNX service uses eight 4,000-TEU vessels.
   The earlier capacity cuts included suspension of the All Water East Coast (AWE) Central Loop, which reduced CKYH capacity in that trade by 18.5 percent, and the East Med Express (EMX). The member lines said they are also “conducting an extensive study to further restructure the Asia-East Mediterranean services, including the Aegean Sea Direct Express (ADX) service.” ' Eric Kulisch