Hyundai doubles size of India loop

   The liner shipping company Hyundai Merchant Marine will more than double capacity on its weekly Asia-Indian Subcontinent CIX loop by increasing the size of the vessels it uses.
   Beginning in late March, the carrier will increase average ship capacity from the current 2,108 TEUs to 4,320 TEUs, an increase of 105 percent, once all five vessels now on the service have been switched out. 
   In addition, Hyundai has dropped a call by CIX at Pipavav, leaving the service with a shorter rotation of Busan, Shanghai, Ningbo, Yantian, Singapore, Nhava Sheva, Singapore, and Busan.
   The service will still operate entirely with Hyundai vessels and Emirates Shipping Line will continue to take slots. Japan-based NYK Line, however, has ended its slot charter agreement with Hyundai on the CIX, from the Feb. 2 Busan departure of the vessel Hyundai Highway.
   NYK will instead purchase slots on the newly merged Emirates, Hapag-Lloyd, and RCL joint service Hyper Galex/CIS/RCI, which connects China and Southeast Asia with Colombo, Nhava Sheva, and Karachi weekly, using six vessels (two each from Emirates, Hapag-Lloyd, and RCL) with an average capacity of 2,879 TEUs. 
   NYK offers coverage of the Indian Subcontinent ports of Nhava Sheva and Pipavav to and from Asia on two other services: its joint Korea/China-ISC WIN service with Evergreen and Hanjin, on which Hyundai takes slots; and its Japan-ISC service HLS. – ComPair Data, Ben Meyer