CARRIERS REVERSE MOVES TO LOWER CAPACITY IN PACIFIC TRADE

CARRIERS REVERSE MOVES TO LOWER CAPACITY IN PACIFIC TRADE    The Grand Alliance, the New World Alliance and Maersk Sealand will reinstate vessel capacity and services removed last winter in an attempt to reduce oversupply in the trade.
   The Grand Alliance carriers Hapag-Lloyd, NYK Line, OOCL and P&O Nedlloyd have launched an eighth Asia/North America weekly container service, adding some 310,000 TEUs in annual one-way capacity.
   The Far East Express service, discontinued last December, will now employ five vessels of 5,400 to 6,200 TEUs each, including a new 6,200-TEU vessel delivered to NYK, the “NYK Lynx.” For this service, the Grand Alliance carriers are also reactivating four ships that had been laid up, according to shipbrokering sources.
   The first ship of the Far East Express service is scheduled to arrive at Los Angeles on April 20. The service has a rotation of Tokyo, Nagoya, Kobe, Xiamen, Yantian, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Oakland and Tokyo.
   Contrary to normal practice, the carriers have not publicly announced the start of the service.
   The New World Alliance of APL, Hyundai and MOL will resume a ninth transpacific service in June and Maersk Sealand is planning to resume its TP5 transpacific service before the third quarter. The Grand Alliance is also considering the launch of a new all-water Asia/U.S. East Coast service.
   The addition of ship capacity represents a change in trends, following the removal of capacity by carriers last winter and the recent resumption of cargo growth.
   Details of all the transpacific services and their capacities, including the new Far East Express service, are posted on the global liner shipping database ComPairData at https://www.compairdata.com .