COSCO joins two Asia-Oceania loops

The Chinese ocean carrier will join two of Maersk Line’s services between Southeast Asia and Oceania this month.    Ocean carrier COSCO will join Maersk Line’s Northern Star and Southern Star loops between Southeast Asia and Oceania this month as a result of the termination of the KIX service, on which COSCO currently purchases slots.
   COSCO will join Maersk Line’s Northern Star with the Nov. 17 sailing of the Jeppesen Maersk from Singapore, the Chinese carrier said.
   The loop has a rotation of Tanjung Pelepas, Singapore, Sydney, Nelson, Wellington, Timaru, Napier, Auckland and Tanjung Pelepas. Maersk Line provides all six vessels on the Northern Star, which have an average capacity of 2,928 TEUs, according to ocean carrier schedule and capacity database BlueWater Reporting. Hapag-Lloyd purchases slots on the loop, but omits calls to Nelson and Sydney. COSCO, which has dubbed the service the SNZ1, did not mention it would call at Tanjung Pelepas or Sydney, but the carrier’s online service schedules indicate it will call Sydney.
   COSCO said it will join Maersk Line’s Southern Star with the Nov. 18 sailing of the Lexa Maersk from Singapore.
   The loop has a rotation of Tanjung Pelepas, Singapore, Brisbane, Tauranga, Lyttelton, Port Chalmers and Tanjung Pelepas. Maersk provides all five of the 4,258-TEU average vessels on the Southern Star, and Hapag-Lloyd purchases slots on the loop, according to BlueWater Reporting. COSCO, which calls the service the SNZ2, also did not mention it would call at Tanjung Pelepas or Brisbane, but it will call Brisbane, according to its online service schedules.
   The KIX, jointly operated by ANL, CMA CGM, and Hanjin, on which COSCO currently purchases slots along with NYK and CMA CGM subsidiary lines Delmas and US Lines, will end with the Nov. 9 sailing of the Patricia Schulte from Singapore, according to the carriers’ online service schedules.
   The loop has a rotation of Singapore, Port Kelang, Brisbane, Sydney, Auckland, Tauranga, Brisbane and Singapore. The KIX operates with six vessels with an average capacity of 2,843 TEUs, according to BlueWater Reporting. ANL provides four of the vessels, while CMA CGM and Hanjin provide one vessel each.
   Excluding the soon to be terminated KIX, a total of 26 direct liner shipping services deploy capacity from Asia to Oceania, all of which are dedicated to the trade, while a total of 28 shipping services deploy capacity from Oceania to Asia, of which 26 are dedicated, according to BlueWater Reporting’s Capacity Report.