Zim, former partner in slot charter dispute

Zim, former partner in slot charter dispute    Zim Integrated Shipping Services said in its latest quarterly release that it is in arbitration proceedings over a $151 million claim related to joint venture agreements with an unnamed shipping line, believed to be China Shipping Container Lines.
   The dispute apparently arose out of an agreement in September 2008 between the two carriers 'following the termination of Zim's Far East/Europe 'East-West Express' service (EWX),' an AXS-Alphaliner report said. 'Zim had increased its slot charter agreement with CSCL on the Asia/Europe AEX1 loop, to total 3,750 TEUs weekly beginning in October last year.'
   Evidently Zim, which was wracked by losses in 2008 and the first quarter of 2009, decided it couldn't meet the minimum volume requirement. China Shipping on Monday announced a new partnership with Evergreen Line, and part of that deal is that Evergreen will charter slots on the AEX1 starting from mid-June.
   In the meantime, Zim has also begun chartering slots on four Grand Alliance services between Europe and Asia, while Grand Alliance members take slots on Zim's East Med Express service (EMX), AXS said.
   'With volumes declining rapidly in the Asia/Europe trade, Zim would not have been able to fill its original allocation on the AEX1 with CSCL, especially with the additional slots taken on the Grand Alliance,' the AXS report said.