Carriers invite Evergreen into Asia/Australia service

Carriers invite Evergreen into Asia/Australia service Evergreen will join the two Asia Australia Services (AAS) operated by four steamship lines — APL, Hamburg S'd, Hapag-Lloyd and Hyundai Merchant Marine.
   Hamburg S'd said in a statement, “Significant cost increases and very poor freight rates both south and northbound have made this step necessary.”
   The carriers will offer two fixed-day weekly loops:
   ' The northern loop employs five 3,500-TEU ships on a rotation of Yokohama, Osaka, Pusan, Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Yokohama.
   ' The southern loop uses four 2,500-TEU ships in a rotation of Kaohsiung, Yantian, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Kaohsiung.
   Hamburg S'd provides three vessels, Hyundai Merchant Marine and APL two vessels each, and Hapag-Lloyd and Evergreen one vessel each.
   The plan, subject to regulatory approvals, is for Evergreen to have fixed space allocations on the northern loop where it will provide a ship from the fourth week of October onwards and for Evergreen to begin purchasing slots on the southern loop at the same time.