Hanjin, which operates five Asia/North Europe loops jointly with the CKYH Alliance, said it would drop a voyage on its NE5 loop in January to meet the slack season downturn. The voyage scheduled to be canceled is the Hanjin Bremerhaven, which was to call Kwangyang on Jan. 1. Hanjin deploys nine vessels in the NE5 loop, and COSCO, 'K' Line, Yang Ming and United Arab Shipping Co. are charter slots on the ships.
Hanjin said there are further plans to drop voyages in the remaining four loops, NE1, NE2, NE3 and NE4 after the Chinese New Year in response to the traditional drop in market demand after the long holiday.
Hanjin added that it is considering further capacity reduction in Asia/Mediterranean loops. One scenario under discussion is to drop a voyage from each of the three Asia/Med loops — MD1, MD2 and MD3 — during December, and another voyage each after Chinese New Year. As a second option, Hanjin Shipping is also considering suspending one of the three loops during the slack season.
