Week 2007/19 07/05/2007 to 13/05/2007 AXS-Alphaliner News is a weekly summary of the latest liner shipping news compiled by Alphaliner and published daily on the AXS website. It is e-mailed every Monday night, and is available free of charge upon request, at AXS discretion. Information is given in good faith but without guarantee. Please send your feedback, comments and questions to data@alphaliner.com Maersk launches AE-11 Maersk Line announced the launch a tenth Europe-Far East loop (AE-11) in order to ''meet customers' increasing demand for more capacity. The AE-11 will connect six Chinese ports directly to the Spain hubs of Algeciras an Malaga, from where boxes can be transhipped to the Western Med, West Africa, Brasil, Uruguay and Argentina, thanks to the multiple loops connecting these regions to Algeciras and Malaga. Seven ships of an advertised capacity of 4,000 teu will ensure it, believed to include the four 5,000 teu 'Boston' class currently in service (MAERSK BOSTON, MAERSK BALTIMORE, MAERSK BENTON- VILLE, MAERSK BROOKLYN), the 4,224 teu JERVIS BAY, the 4,206 teu MAERSK MONTREAL and the 4,062 teu SEA-LAND EAGLE. The AE-11 will thus add 4,600 weekly nominal teu (240,000 teu on an annual basis). This new loop will then boost the Maersk's Far East-Europe services capacity by 7%, to around 3.7 Mteu annually, according to AXS- Alphaliner records. It will help Maersk to keep its 20-21% market share on this sector (as explained in the accompanying survey, the Far East-Europe loops carry also containers which are not destined to Europe but are transhipped to Africa and Latin America). Interestingly, most of the ships to be assigned to the AE-11 are displaced from the transpacific trade, where they are currently ending their rotation on the 'old' TP-7 loop, which indirectly corresponds to the closure of a TP loop, as explained, although it will be partly compensated by the injection of 8,000 teu ships on the Far East-Mexico-Balboa service (AC-2). Thus, this initiative corresponds to a shift of capacity from the TP trade to the Far East-Europe trade, in the wake of initiatives recently taken by Evergreen or by COSCO, while on its side, CMA CGM is to launch a new FE-Med loop. The first departure on the AE-11 will occur from Xingang on 28 May 2007. It is also recalled that Maersk Line is putting into place its new Far-East Europe services, as announced in January. > See our FE-Europe capacity survey NWA launches SZX New World Alliance partners (APL + MOL + HMM) are to launch in June an Asia- USEC service using the Suez route (SZX), with CMA CGM as slot buyer. Dis- page 1 of 5
cussions to embark Evergreen are going on. The SZX will add to the new Asia- USEC service via Panama that NWA partners are to launch this month together with CMA CGM (ESX / SAX). The SZX will cover the SE Asia and Indian subcontinent export markets to the USA, with calls at the hubs of Singapore and Colombo. From these two hubs, it will proceed directly to New York, Charleston, Savannah and Norfolk (there are no Med calls). It will then come back to Singapore via Jebel Ali and Port Kelang, thus covering the important US- Middle East eastbound market as well as the Middle East-SE Asia eastbound market. Transit times of 21 days are advertised between Singapore and New York and 18 days between Colombo and New York. The SZX will be run with eight ships of 4,000-4,500 teu, including ships swapped between APL and HMM. It will boost to 13 the number of FE-US loops covered by the NWA, including 4 covering the FE-USEC trade. MSC takes Maersk D9-Js Maersk Line (USA) has sold three ships of its D9-J class to MSC and to Greek owner Conbulk. MSC has bought two of them, the SEA-LAND INDEPENDENCE and SEA-LAND DEFENDER, while Conbulk has bought the SEA-LAND EX- PLORER, who has been long term chartered by MSC. They belong to a series of 12 ships ordered in Japan in October 1978 by Sea- Land Service and delivered in 1980 as 1,667 teu ships (D-9 class), according to AXS-Alphaliner records. They were jumboised in Japan in 1985, boosting their capacity to 2,472 teu (becoming then known as D9-J). Further adaptations brought to deck arrangements allowed to add 200 teu, giving them their current intake of 2,680 teu. Most of these ships are actually owned by US banks with Maersk Line (USA), successors of Sea-Land Service (APM bought Sea-Land Service in 1999). used to be employed on intercontinental services until recently but have been confined for the past few months more and more on regional relay services, such as the East Africa relay service. Various Lines News Further to the swap of the 7,500 teu ships plying the COSCO's transpacific SEA loop with the 5,500 teu ships plying the CKYH's Asia-Europe 'South China Express' loop (SCX), COSCO is to adjust the rotation of the slimmed down SEA loop, with the removal of the Ningbo call. The SEA is expected to continue calling at Xiamen, Nansha, Hong Kong and Yantian, before proceeding to Long Beach and Oakland. As for the alternative, it is recalled that COSCO co-loads on the K Line's PSW-1 loop, which links Ningbo and other Chinese ports to Long Beach and Oakland. Wan Hai is to replace two departing ships on the transpacific Wan Hai-PIL CTP service. The 3,065 teu HENRY and the 2,829 teu INDEPENDENCE will be replaced by two owned newbuildings to come on stream next month, the 4,252 teu WAN HAI 507 and the 2,646 teu WAN HAI 316. The WAN HAI 507 is the first of a new batch of four 4,252 teu ships ordered in July 2004 at CSBC (Taiwan), identical to the four units of the WAN HAI 501-WAN 506 series, all deployed on the Wan Hai-PIL Far East- page 2 of 5
Europe service. The WAN HAI 316 is the fifth of six 2,646 teu units of the 'Jurong 2500' design ordered by Wan Hai at the Jurong Shipyard (Singapore), and is delivered later than expected. As for the HENRY and INDEPENDENCE, they are among several ships of around 3,000 fixed during the past two months by CMA CGM, in anticipation of the launch in June of its new FE-Med service (North Africa Express). European West Indies Line (EWL) has added Le Havre to its main liner service linking Europe, Canada, the Caribbean, NCSA and Central America. MSC has added a call at Montoir on its Europe-Indian Ocean-Australia Euro service. Montoir is served as the last North European port and thus focuses on the Western France export market. Philippines owner Aboitiz Transport System and MCC Transport Singapore Pte Ltd (subsidiary of APM-Maerski dealing with intra Asia trades) have teamed up to form MCC Transport Philippines Inc. Shanghai Hai Hua (Hasco) and Gold Star Line (GSL) are to team up on the China- Vietnam-Thailand trade, as they organize the 'China-Vietnam-Thailand Express' (CVX / CTX), effective end May. This service is based on the existing GSL service of the same name, with a few changes in China calls. It will be a first for Hasco, which will serve Vietnam and Thailand with its own service for the first time (Hasco did not venture south of Hong Kong or Taiwan until now). Of note, two Shanghai calls are added, at the Yangshan and Waigaoqiao terminals. Shanghai is actually the base port of Hasco. The Ningbo and Taicang calls of the GSL original service are dropped. The service is launched with the same 800-1,000 teu ships plying the GSL service, but Hasco is expected to bring its own ship. Onto Shipping and CSCL have teamed up to organized a three weeks joint pendulum service linking North China ports to Tokyo and Yokohama, based on the former Onto/TSK joint service (NJX), which has been closed as TSK left (it was launched in May 2005. Onto has retained the two ships it deployed on the former Onto-TSK joint service, the 602 teu DONG HAI and JIFA HUANGHAI, while CSCL brings the 614 teu LIN YUAN (replacing the TSK's chartered 585 teu OSG ALPHA). Heung-A has launched this month an additional Korea-HK-Haiphong service (HPS 2), using two ships of 950-1,100 teu, adding to the existing HPS service (HPS 1) (we stated erroneously in our news our news of 26 April that the two 650 teu ships plying the HPS were replaced with larger tonnage while it was in fact an additional loop). Evergreen Line announced that it is to provide a ''cost-effective and congestionfree link between the Far East and Southern Germany via the increasingly popular Adriatic port of Trieste giving shippers a competitive alternative to the busy and expensive Northern European ports''. Combining its ADR Far East- Adriatic service with a dedicated block train connection from Trieste to Munich, Evergreen Line will offer shippers a direct-to-door service across Southern Germany. The Trieste-Munich block train service will initially run twice a week in both directions, gradually increasing to five times a week by the end of the year. Hyundai H.I. said in a statement that it has won an order for eight container ships worth 904.9 billion won (USD 976 M) from a client in the Marshall Islands. The contract calls for Hyundai Heavy to page 3 of 5
deliver the vessels by November 2010. The capacity nor the orderer are stated, but the USD 122 M price per unit suggests that they are ships of around 8,500 teu. The ordered is believed to be Seaspan, whose corporate head office is in the Marshall Islands. The charterer is not unveiled. Deliveries Safmarine Container Lines N.V. -a sister company to Maersk Line- has received the SAFMARINE MAFADI, advertised at 4,154 teu by Safmarine but with an intake more likely to be closer to 5,000 teu given its overall dimensions. She is the third of four ships aimed at the recently revised Far East-South Africa 'Safari' service. Hansa Shipping GmbH & Co KG has received the HANSA PAPENBURG, a 1,740 teu ship of the 'Flensburg' class, built in China by the Wenchong Shipyard. She is the third of a new group of four such units ordered by this company. The HANSA PAPENBURG has joined her charterer CLAN which has renamed her MA- RUBA ALDEBARAN. She will start a career on an off-schedule FE-South America trip. The HANSA PAPENBURG is the 30th ship delivered in the 'Flensburg' series, inaugurated seven years ago with the delivery of the HANSA FLENSBURG. Rickmers Reederei (Bertram Rickmers) has received the 1,338 teu RICKMERS CHINA, ordered in August 2005 at the Jiangsu Yangziajiang shipyard (Jiangyin). She is to join her charterer APL for assignment to the 'Mindanao Express' (MDX), replacing the 1,118 teu SYMS HUASHAN, who is returned by APL to her head charterer SYMS. The RICKMERS CHINA belongs to the MRC 1100-II type. Hermann Buss has received the 1,296 teu MEDATLANTIC, fifth of 12 ships ordered by Buss and Thien & Heyenga at the Ouhua Shipyard (Euro-China Shipyard), located in the Zhejiang Province. She has been chartered by APL which will assign her to Singapore-Ho Chi Minh City feeder service, on which replacing the 1,066 teu ARAGO. This latter one will then join the Middle East for its new assignment on the soon to be launched Salalah-India-Red Sea service (SRX). Turkish owner Kasif Kalkavan has received the 1,145 teu SERAP KALKAVAN, built at the Kalkavan-owned Sedef Gemi shipyard. She is assigned to the Turkon America Line. She is the 17th ship delivered since this series was launched in 1997. They are derived from a Hansen design (also known as Orskov Mk XI, as ships designed by Hansen were usually built in Denmark by the Orskov yard). Heinrich Jüngerhans has received the 974 teu PAVO J., sixth unit in a new design marketed by the Hegemann Group, the 'RW 850' (RW = Rolandwerft - which belongs to Hegemann). She has joined Delphis NV under the name SEBAS. Delphis has assigned her to the Team Lines Benelux-UK-Bilbao service, replacing the 750 teu JAVI. Japanese owner Yamato Kaiun Kaisha has received in April the 907 teu TRIN- ITY, which belongs to a standard series built at the Kyokuyo shipyard (Japan). She has joined SE Asia to and is employed by Samudera on its Singapore- Malaysia feeder service (MSX). Qingdao-based Shandong International Transport Co (SITC) has received the 906 teu SITC KAOHSIUNG, built in China by the Nantong Yahua Shipyard. She has joined the Japan-Shanghai-Xiamen- Philippines service, replacing the 672 teu page 4 of 5
EURO STAR. She is identical to the FOR- MOSA CONTAINER 4, delivered in March to Formosa Plastics. Alphaliner & AXSMarine joined forces in 2005 to create AXSLiner. AXSLiner is a new, enhanced way of displaying Alphaliner data. AXSLiner's data sorting and processing functions create a real productivity tool for the liner shipping industry. www.axsliner.com page 5 of 5