Lines add Asia/East Coast South America loop

Lines add Asia/East Coast South America loop    Four Asian carriers will launch a second Asia/East Coast South America service at the end of March, one of the lines said Wednesday.
   'K' Line, NYK Line, PIL and Hyundai Merchant Marine will start the second string of their existing AESA service with five 3,000-TEU vessels on a fortnightly schedule, 'K' Line said in a statement.
   Rotation for the AESA 2 will be Ningbo, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Singapore, Port Kelang, Rio de Janeiro, Santos, Vitoria, Navegantes, Santos, Rio de Janeiro, Singapore, Hong Kong and Ningbo.
   Initially, PIL and Hyundai will operate two vessels each and NYK Line one, 'K' Line told American Shipper. If the service is upgraded to a weekly offering, five more vessels will be deployed, one more each from PIL and Hyundai, two more from NYK and one from 'K' Line.
   'K' Line said transit times to Rio will be faster on the second AESA loop because Rio will be the first South American call. American Shipper affiliate ComPair Data pegs the transit times to Rio on the current AESA loop at 34 days from Singapore as it's the sixth and last call in South America.
   The existing AESA loop has a rotation of Shanghai, Shanghai, Ningbo, Hong Kong, Shekou, Singapore, Santos, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Navegantes, Paranagua, Santos, Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town, Singapore and Hong Kong, according to ComPair Data. The service is operated with 11 vessels (four from 'K' Line, three each from NYK and PIL, and one unallocated), with an average capacity of 4,233 TEUs. At present Hyundai nominally operates the 11th vessel on the AESA loop.
   'K' Line also said the AESA rotation will also be amended in mid-March with the addition of a call at Busan. The revised rotation also shows a call in Cape Town being dropped. The call at Busan gives the carriers a direct connection from South Korea to the East Coast of South America, something none of them currently provides.
   Four services currently link South Korea with the East Coast of South America, according to ComPair Data:
   ' MOL's standalone 12-ship CSW service.
   ' Hamburg S'd's and Alianca's 12-ship Asia service, on which Maersk Line and Safmarine are slot buyers.
   ' CMA CGM's and China Shipping's 11-ship SEAS service.
   ' The 11-ship ALX/ASE service operated by Hanjin Shipping, Zim, Wan Hai, Hapag-Lloyd and CCNI.
   For more information on the Asia/South America trade, read Eric Johnson's recent commentary, 'Asia's emerging-to-emerging growth,' in the Feb. 17 Service Tracker of American Shipper affiliate ComPair Data. ' Eric Johnson