NWA carriers add first Cai Mep/Europe link

NWA carriers add first Cai Mep/Europe link    The New World Alliance carriers APL, Hyundai Merchant Marine and MOL said Monday they will add a call in early January at Cai Mep in southern Vietnam to their JEX loop between Asia and Europe.
   The call will be added westbound Jan. 4 as the second-to-last call out of Asia on the loop, which will have a new rotation of Kobe, Nagoya, Shimizu, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Yantian, Cai Mep, Singapore, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Le Havre, Tangier, Jeddah, Singapore, Yantian, Hong Kong and Kobe. CMA CGM takes slots on the service.
   The JEX service has two calls at Tangier, but with the addition of Cai Mep, the westbound Tangier call will be omitted, the New World Alliance said. According to American Shipper affiliate ComPair Data, the service operates with 10 ships, all provided by MOL, with an average capacity of 6,538 TEUs.
   It's the first direct call from Cai Mep, Vietnam's first deepwater container port, to Europe for the NWA carriers. Four other services connect Cai Mep with Europe:
   ' The CKYH Alliance's (COSCO Container Lines, 'K' Line, Yang Ming and Hanjin Shipping) NE5 loop, which has a 19-day transit time from Cai Mep to Hamburg.
   ' The Grand Alliance's (Hapag-Lloyd, NYK Container Line and OOCL) AEX service, which has a 20-day Cai Mep-Med connection at Cagliari.
   ' Maersk Line's long-line TP6/AE6, which calls Europe from Cai Mep with a 65-day transit time (the service is oriented for fast transit times from Cai Mep to Los Angeles and from Europe to Cai Mep).
   ' Zim's AME service, which has a 19-day transit time from Cai Mep to Haifa and a 30-day transit time to Felixstowe.
   Meanwhile, the NWA carriers said they will replace the deleted Tangier call on the JEX with a call at the Moroccan port on another Asia/Europe service they operate, the SCX. That service is operated with 10 vessels, five from MOL and five from APL, with an average capacity of 8,522 TEUs. The new rotation, as of Jan. 4, will be Ningbo, Shanghai, Xiamen, Hong Kong, Chiwan, Singapore, Colombo, Tangier, Southampton, Hamburg, Rotterdam, Singapore, Hong Kong and Ningbo.
   Grand Alliance carriers and CMA CGM takes slots on the SCX. ' Eric Johnson