YANG MING TO PULL OUT OF ASIA/MED SERVICE WITH NEW WORLD ALLIANCE

YANG MING TO PULL OUT OF ASIA/MED SERVICE WITH NEW WORLD ALLIANCE    From March, Yang Ming Marine will withdraw from its joint weekly Asia/Mediterranean service with New World Alliance carriers APL, Hyundai Merchant Marine and MOL.
   Yang Ming currently contributes three vessels of about 2,900 TEUs to the Asia-Med service. The last sailing by Yang Ming on the service will be on March 19, a spokesman confirmed.
   The Asia-Med service calls Genoa, Barcelona, Fos, Port Said, Jeddah, Singapore, Hong Kong, Keelung, Busan, Kobe, Nagoya, Yokohama, Kaohsiung, Hong Kong, Singapore, Port Kelang, Port Said, Genoa, Barcelona and Fos.
   To maintain coverage of the Mediterranean region, Yang Ming said that it will, as part of its alliance with COSCO and “K” Line, extend its weekly transpacific PSW 1/CALCO-A service into a new U.S./Asia/Europe/Mediterranean “pendulum” PSW-1/AES-1 service. The new service is expected to call at Mediterranean hub ports.
   This development follows the merging of two of the COSCO/”K” Line/Yang Ming alliance’s Asia/Europe service’s, the Asia Express Service and Japan Express Service, to cover the slack first quarter period. The merged service, known as the KY Asia/Europe Integration Scheme, will operate for the first quarter until it will be replaced by the new AES-2 service, using eight 5,500-TEU ships, calling at one west Mediterranean port.