GRAND ALLIANCE WITHDRAWS PACIFIC CAPACITY FOR SIX WEEKS

GRAND ALLIANCE WITHDRAWS PACIFIC CAPACITY FOR SIX WEEKS    The Grand Alliance carriers Hapag-Lloyd, OOCL,    P&O Nedlloyd and NYK Line have temporarily suspended their joint weekly transpacific “Far East Express” service for a period of six weeks.
   The “FEX” service, which deploys five ships averaging 5,892 TEUs, has been suspended from this week (starting Feb. 3) to week 12 (starting March 17).
   The withdrawal of the alliance’s transpacific capacity coincides with the usual lull in traffic volumes from Asia to North America following the Chinese New Year.
   The port rotation for the “FEX” service is Xiamen, Shekou, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Oakland, Tokyo, Nagoya, Kobe, Xiamen, Shekou and Hong Kong.
   The New World Alliance has also suspended one of its transpacific container services for the duration of the slack season.