ZIM, CSAV MERGE ASIA/PACIFIC NORTHWEST SERVICES

ZIM, CSAV MERGE ASIA/PACIFIC NORTHWEST SERVICES    Zim Israel Navigation Co. and Compania Sud Americana de Vapores will combine their Asia/Pacific Northwest services as part of a vessel-sharing agreement.
   The agreement, due to become effective in May, will result in CSAV operating only one ship between Asia and the U.S. and Canadian Pacific Northwest ports, instead of five previously.
   Zim’s 5-ship Asia/PNW ZPS weekly loop currently uses vessels of about 1,700 TEUs. This loop will be replaced by a longer service utilizing 14 to 15 ships of 3,000 TEUs that will also incorporate Zim’s 10-vessel Asia/Mediterranean weekly service. CSAV will contribute one vessel to the resulting Pacific Northwest/Asia/Suez/Asia/Pacific Northwest “pendulum” service.
   Dan Nadler, spokesman for Zim, said that the new AMP pendulum service will provide calls at Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia, that are currently served by the carrier’s Asia/PNW link.
   CSAV has recently withdrawn most of the vessels on its five-ship Asia/PNW loop, which provided a capacity of about 1,500 TEUs a week. Instead, CSAV and sister company Norasia have started taking slots on vessels of Zim and Hanjin Shipping.
   Norasia will also take space between Asia and the Pacific Northwest on the Zim/CSAV service.
   Norasia and COSCO Container Lines currently take slots on the Asia/Mediterranean service of Zim, an arrangement that is expected to continue after Zim has incorporated this service into the new PNW/ Asia/Mediterranean/Asia/PNW service.
   For the CSAV/Norasia group, the new one-ship contribution to the vessel-sharing agreement with Zim represents a further decrease in its vessel deployment in the transpacific trade. Norasia had entered the transpacific trade in 1999 with eight vessels.