Lines merge Asia/Caribbean loops

Lines merge Asia/Caribbean loops    CMA CGM, CSAV and China Shipping said Thursday they are merging two Asia/Mexico/Caribbean services into one.
   The new service will replace the joint CMA CGM-China Shipping PEX2 loop, which China Shipping markets as AAE2, and CSAV's Pacar service. It will have a rotation of Hong Kong, Chiwan, Kaohsiung, Ningbo, Shanghai, Qingdao, Busan, Ensenada, Manzanillo (Mexico), Balboa, Manzanillo (Panama), Cartagena, Kingston, Caucedo, Puerto Cabello, Port of Spain and Hong Kong.
   According to ComPair Data, the new rotation is an exact replica of the PEX2 loop, except for the added call in Kingston. CSAV's existing loop, however, has been drastically changed, with calls cut from Tianjin in China, Rio Haina in the Dominican Republic and U.S. East Coast calls in Savannah, Charleston and New York.
   CMA CGM said the as-yet-unnamed service will also sail the return leg eastbound around the Cape of Good Hope rather than transit back through the Panama Canal, as the PEX2/AAE2 loop had been doing since April, making it a round-the-world service.
   It’s also worth noting, said Francis Phillips of ComPair Data, that Cartagena is becoming a preeminent container hub, “with pendulums like this stretching out elegantly in all directions, and with only the same few lines’ names involved in every case,' including notably CMA and CSAV.
   The service will be operated with 10 4,300-TEU ships, with five provided by CSAV, four by CMA CGM and one by China Shipping. The PEX2 service had been operated with mostly CMA CGM ships, with the French line supplying eight ships of 3,388 to 4,288 TEUs to China Shipping's one. CSAV operated the Pacar service with eight ships of 2,478 to 3,534 TEUs, according to ComPair Data.
   'This new agreement allows CMA CGM to optimize the quality of its direct service between Asia, Mexico and the Caribbean, while adjusting its tonnage deployment to the current environment,' said Laurent Falgui're, vice president Caribbean and Latin America lines for CMA CGM, in a statement.
   The new merged loop begins July 17 from Hong Kong.