Evergreen joining CKYH transatlantic loop

Evergreen joining CKYH transatlantic loop    Evergreen Line is cutting the transatlantic leg of its NUE pendulum service between Europe and Asia via the U.S. West and East coasts, and will jointly operate on a CKYH Alliance loop between the U.S. East Coast and Northern Europe.
   CKYH carriers COSCO, 'K' Line, Yang Ming and Hanjin made the announcement Thursday. The decision drastically reduces Evergreen's capacity on the trade, given that its NUE service was operated with 11 4,200-TEU ships and one 5,100-TEU ship, according to ComPair Data.
   Now, the Taiwan-based carrier will provide two of four 2,400-TEU vessels on the merged service. The new service, called TAE, effectively replaces CKYH's TAS1 service, but keeps the exact same rotation of Antwerp, Bremerhaven, Rotterdam, Le Havre, New York, Norfolk, Charleston and Antwerp.
   The TAS 1 is also operated with four 2,400-TEU vessels, but now the CKYH carriers will provide only two instead of all four.
   It's unclear whether the Asia and U.S. West Coast legs of Evergreen's NUE service will be retained. From a pure transatlantic perspective, the NUE virtually mirrors the rotation of the new service, though the U.S. East Coast ports were called eastbound and westbound on the pendulum. In July, Evergreen, along with China Shipping, departed CMA CGM’s Victory transatlantic loop, saying it had a “dismal outlook” for the trade.
   Evergreen added that its solely operated NUE pendulum was there to provide transatlantic port coverage, but the carrier also hinted at the time that it would look to rationalize further.
   “The alternatives include further cooperation with strategic partners but the negotiation has not reached any conclusive result yet,” the line told American Shipper.
   The new TAE service is expected to start at the end of September.