2M Alliance suspends transpacific loop

MSC blames a “challenging operating environment for business.”    The 2M Alliance of Maersk Line and Mediterranean Shipping Co. (MSC) is suspending its transpacific TP1/New Eagle service.
   The TP1/New Eagle will be suspended from week 27 (with departure from Busan on July 4) until further notice, MSC said.
   The loop has a rotation of Kaohsiung, Yantian, Xiamen, Shanghai, Busan, Vancouver (Canada), Seattle, Yokohama, Busan and Kaohsiung.
   Six vessels averaging 4,624 TEUs operate on the loop, according to BlueWater Reporting. MSC provides four of the vessels, while Maersk supplies the other two.
   The TP1/New Eagle has the smallest vessels of the five 2M Alliance services currently operating on the Asia-West Coast of North America trade, according to BlueWater Reporting.
   Effective with voyage 826N, cargo originally intended to be loaded on the TP1/New Eagle will be covered by the 2M Alliance’s transpacific TP9/Maple service, according to MSC’s contingency plan.
   MSC said the TP1/New Eagle is being suspended due to “the challenging operating environment for business on the transpacific trade.”
   Spot container rates from Shanghai to the U.S. West Coast tumbled 6.8 percent last Friday to $1,266 per FEU, according to the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index; however, this was still higher than the $1,146 per FEU in mid-June of last year.