New World linking Far East/U.S. East Coast with Panama, Suez services

New World linking Far East/U.S. East Coast with Panama, Suez services The New World Alliance — APL, Hyundai Merchant Marine and MOL — is starting two weekly services from the Far East to the U.S. East Coast, one through the Panama Canal and the other via the Suez Canal.
   The first of the new services to start will be a joint operation from June 4 through Panama between alliance members and French carrier CMA CGM. The service, marketed as ESX by the New World Alliance and SAX by CMA CGM, will run with a port rotation of Ningbo (Tuesday); Shanghai (Wednesday/Thursday); Chiwan (Friday/Saturday); Hong Kong (Saturday/Sunday); Manzanillo, Panama (Friday/Friday); Savannah, Ga. (Monday/Tuesday); New York (Wednesday/Friday); Norfolk, Va.; (Friday/Saturday); and back to Ningbo (Monday).
   The ESX/SAX will use eight vessels ranging from 3,500 TEUs to 3,800 TEUs with three operated by HMM, two each from MOL and CMA CGM and one by APL.
   Selected transit times on the service include Hong Kong to Savannah in 22 days and Hong Kong/New York in 24 days.
   It is not sure at the present time if the new service means that the Grand Alliance — Hapag-Lloyd, OOCL and NYK — and New World Alliance have shelved plans to resume their short-lived joint Asia/U.S. East Coast ECS loop.
   A month or so after the start of the ESX/SAX, the New World Alliance will commence another all-water service, this time connecting South East Asia and the Indian Subcontinent with the U.S. East Coast via Suez.
   The Suez Express (SZX) will start in early July on a port rotation of Singapore (Tuesday/Thursday); Colombo (Sunday/Sunday); New York (Thursday/Friday); Charleston, S.C. (Sunday/Sunday); Savannah, Ga. (Monday/Monday); Norfolk, Va. (Wednesday/Wednesday); Jebel Ali, Dubai; (Sunday/Monday); Port Kelang (Monday/Monday) and back to Singapore (Tuesday).
   Transit times on the SZX will include Singapore to New York in 21 days and Colombo/New York in 18 days.
   The service will deploy eight vessels with a capacity range of 4,000 TEUs to 4,500 TEUs with five coming from APL and the other three made up by HMM and MOL.
   “Port and rail congestion in North America are very real issues for our customers, who increasingly are diversifying their supply chains throughout the Asia region as well as the gateways they are utilizing to flow cargo into the U.S. market,” said Ron Widdows, APL chief executive officer. “Our solution is the SZX, which offers an entirely new transportation solution that complements our other Suez and transpacific services. We are certain customers will value the speed, scope and reliability of this new all-water offering from Asia to the U.S. East Coast.”
   APL said that in addition to U.S.-bound cargoes that will originate from the service’s direct ports of call, the SZX will attract cargo via feeder services from Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, and will also be competitive for markets such as Hong Kong, South China and even Western Australia.
   Bob Sappio, APL’s senior vice president for the transpacific trade, said: “The SZX is in keeping with APL’s tradition of raising the bar in terms of transit times, market coverage and reliability. The SZX was developed in response to customers who demand solutions with multiple ports and gateways which maximize product delivery certainty.”