Asian Carriers to Terminate Asia-ECSA Service

zoom Container shipping majors Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM), Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. (K Line), Pacific International Lines Pte. Ltd.(PIL) and Yang Ming plan to close their joint Far East-East Coast South America NHX service in October, Dynamar B.V. said in a release. The service featuring 12 container vessels of nominal 4250TEU-4600TEU capacity was launched in April. The ports of call were Pusan, Shanghai, Ningbo, Shekou, Singapore, Rio De Janeiro, Santos, Navegantes, Paranagua, Santos, Rio De Janeiro, Singapore, Hong Kong, Pusan, with a round voyage lasting 84 days. According to DynaLiners Daily, Hyundai will, with one ship, join the two-loop SEAS service of China Shipping, CMA CGM, Hamburg Süd, Hapag-Lloyd and NYK instead, but K Line, PIL and Yang Ming will restrict their presence through their existing slot arrangements on the ESA service of Coscon, Evergreen, Hanjin and ZIM. Reasons behind the decision have not been disclosed. Neither of the carriers have disclosed the info officially on their websites and are yet to reply to emails sent by World Maritime News seeking comment on the matter.