Grand Alliance rejigs TP network

Grand Alliance rejigs TP network    Grand Alliance carriers Hapag-Lloyd, NYK Line and OOCL said Thursday they will shake up their transpacific service network in May to coincide with the relaunch of a shuttered service connecting Japan and California.
   In 2009, the alliance carriers merged their JCX service with their SCX service, rolling Japanese port calls into a service that focuses on Southeast Asia.
   The lines said their JCX service will recommence from May 15 with a rotation of Qingdao, Gwangyang, Kobe, Nagoya, Tokyo, Sendai, Los Angeles, Oakland, Tokyo, Nagoya, Kobe and Qingdao. The rotation includes Japanese ports called on the SCX service as well as a call at Qingdao, which is served by their CCX loop. They didn't specify number and sizes of ships to be operated on the recalled service.
   As of May 8, the SCX will have a revised rotation of Laem Chabang, Singapore, Cai Mep, Kaohsiung, Los Angeles, Oakland, Kaohsiung, Shekou and Laem Chabang. The service, according to American Shipper affiliate ComPair Data, operates with eight NYK vessels with an average capacity of 6,421 TEUs. A new eastbound call at Cai Mep will be new as will the eastbound call at Kaohsiung. It’s the first export-oriented call from Cai Mep to North America for the Grand Alliance.
   As of May 19, the CCX will have a revised rotation of Ningbo, Shanghai (Waigaoqiao), Shanghai (Yangshan), Busan, Los Angeles, Oakland, Busan and Ningbo. The service operates with five vessels with an average capacity of 6,193 TEUs (though two sailings are currently unallocated).
   The alliance's other pure transpacific service to California, the SSX, will also see change, with an eastbound call at Kaohsiung deleted and a westbound call at Fuzhou added (a westbound call at Kaohsiung is retained). The revised rotation, from May 14, will be Yantian, Shekou, Hong Kong, Long Beach, Kaohsiung, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Hong Kong and Yantian. According to ComPair Data, the service operates with six OOCL vessels with an average capacity of 7,680 TEUs.
   The lines said in a statement that the revisions 'will improve the CCX schedule by concentrating coverage to Central China and Busan, while the SCX will provide a competitive transit from Vietnam's Cai Mep deepwater port to Los Angeles. The SSX will offer a super shuttle express to the market from South China and Hong Kong together with direct coverage in Fuzhou.'
   Aside from these services, the Grand Alliance operates two others connecting Asia and the U.S. West Coast: the Hapag-Lloyd-operated longline PAX service, which calls Seattle and Oakland; and the transpacific leg of the Hapag-Lloyd 18-ship Loop B, which calls Oakland and Vancouver from Asia. ' Eric Johnson