EVERGREEN RESTRUCTURES EAST/WEST SERVICES

EVERGREEN RESTRUCTURES EAST/WEST SERVICES    Evergreen will replace its long-established eastbound and westbound round-the-world services by two tri-continent “pendulum” services in February.
   The revised services will be:
   * the WAE (U.S. West Coast/Asia/Europe) weekly service, employing 10 post-Panamax ships of 5,652 TEUs and two of 4,211 TEUs on a rotation of Pacific Northwest/Asia/northern Europe/Asia/Pacific Northwest;
   * and the NUE (North Continent/U.S./East Asia) weekly service, using eight Panamax ships of 4,229 TEUs and four of 4,211 TEUs on a rotation of northern Europe/U.S. East Coast/Panama/U.S. West Coast/Asia/U.S. West Coast/Panama/U.S. East Coast/northern Europe;
   Evergreen said that the new services will maintain the port coverage currently offered by the round-the-world services, while faster transit times will be offered on certain sectors of the routes covered.
   However, the reconfiguration of Evergreen’s east/west services will not affect the number and frequency of its transpacific, Asia/Europe and transatlantic services.
   “Evergreen’s round-the-world service was introduced in 1984 and has long been considered a hallmark of our company,” said Marcel Chang, president of Evergreen Marine Corp. “However, the liner shipping industry is going through tumultuous times and all carriers are looking at ways of restructuring their services.”
   The WAE service will incorporate the current four-ship Asia/Pacific Northwest TPN service of Evergreen.
   The WAE pendulum service will also replace the Asia/Europe portion of the round-the-world services, and will have a rotation of Tacoma, Vancouver, Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Kaohsiung, Hong Kong, Singapore, Colombo, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Thamesport, Zeebrugge, Le Havre, Colombo, Singapore, Kaohsiung, Hong Kong, Osaka, Tokyo, Tacoma and Vancouver.
   The first WAE sailing will be the “Ever Diadem” from Tokyo on Feb. 19.
   The NUE pendulum service will have a rotation of Kaohsiung, Pusan, Osaka, Nagoya, Tokyo, Shimizu, Los Angeles, Colon (Panama), Charleston, Norfolk, New York, Rotterdam, Bremerhaven, Thamesport, Antwerp, Le Havre, New York, Norfolk,    Charleston, Colon, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Osaka and Kaohsiung.
   The first NUE voyage will commence with the sailing of the “Ever Royal” from Pusan on Feb. 11.
   Following the introduction of the NUE and WAE services, Evergreen will be operating four transpacific services and will have space allocations on two other services.
   Evergreen’s direct link between Asia and the U.S. East Coast, the AUE service, will continue to operate alongside the NUE service.
   Between East Asia and Europe, Evergreen will operate two weekly services and will take space on a third.
   Following the changes, Evergreen will have transferred large post-Panamax ships previously in its TPN and HTW transpacific services to the WAE North America/Asia/Europe service, thereby reducing transpacific capacity somewhat and increasing Asia/Europe vessel supply.
   Meanwhile, Evergreen is phasing in a series of new 6,332-TEU post-panamax containerships into its TPS transpacific loop.
   The eastbound and westbound round-the-world operation, which currently employs a total of 20 ships, was launched by Evergreen in 1984. Its distinctive round-the-world operating pattern has become closely associated with the Taiwanese carrier.