With both THE Alliance and the Ocean Alliance kicking off on 1 April, along with Hyundai Merchant Marine and Hamburg Sud cooperating with 2M the Asia – Europe trade is set for a major shake-up.

 

　　The “big winner” will be Singapore, with Rotterdam remaining the key port in Europe, while in Asia both Port Klang and Hong Kong will lose out.

 

　　Following the start of the new alliance Singapore is set to attract 34 weekly calls on Asia – Europe compared to 29 previously. This increase goes as the expense of Port Klang. This shift from Singapore to Port Klang is mostly the consequence of the purchase of Singapore-based APL by CMA CGM,” Alphaliner said in its weekly newsletter.

 

　　Following its acquisition of APL the French line has invested in a joint venture terminal CMA CGM-PSA Lion Terminal at PSA in Singapore boosting its, and with it the Ocean Alliance, presence in the city state. The big loser in this CMA CGM’s longstanding Southeast Asian hub Port Klang in neighbouring Malaysia with weekly calls on Asia – Europe reduced from 11 to just five.

 

　　Meanwhile THE Alliance will only hub in Singapore for Southeast Asia.

 

　　The Port of Tanjung Pelepas will remain the key regional hub for 2M with it adding a 12th weekly call, while the Ocean Alliance will also call the Malaysian port four times a week.

 

　　Hong Kong is also set to loss out with only seven weekly calls of North European loops and three weekly calls of Mediterranean loops, replacing ten and five calls respectively.

 

　　On the European side Rotterdam will remain the most important port and while losing two weekly Asia – Europe calls due to the alliance reshuffle, however, it will also gain two calls from 2M.

 

　　Source:seatrade-maritime.com