[161014.EN.SEA] Hamburg Sud, Hapag-Lloyd, CSAV, NYK to Merge USEC-ECSA Services

HAMBURG Sud, Hapag-Lloyd, CSAV, NYK Line and Yang Ming are to create a single weekly loop to consolidate their US east coast-east coast South America volumes.

To achieve this goal the current Hamburg Sud-CSAV Tango/USATLAN service will be merged with the NYK-Yang Ming Atlantic North South (ANS) service to form an upgraded joint loop operated by Hamburg Sud, Hapag-Lloyd-CSAV and NYK.

Yang Ming will take slots from NYK on the service (subject to regulatory approvals), reported Alphaliner.

Hapag-Lloyd, which takes slots on both loops under the respective service names, SEC and BEC, will consolidate its volumes on the upgraded New Tango, while CSAV will transfer its volumes, so far carried on MSC's US-Caribbean-ECSA service under the marker Tango 2, to the same New Tango.

CSAV's slots will be taken under the Norasia Container Lines (NCL) name, to which the carrier's intercontinental services were transferred in July 2014 - ahead of the planned merger of CSAV's container business with Hapag-Lloyd.

The port rotation of the New Tango service rotation will follow the current rotation of the Hamburg Sud-CSAV service: New York, Philadelphia, Norfolk, Charleston, Jacksonville, Port Everglades, Suape, Santos, Buenos Aires, Rio Grande, Itapoa, Santos, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Pecem and back to New York.

The service will be operated by seven ships, of which four will be provided by Hamburg Sud, two by Hapag-Lloyd/CSAV and one by NYK.

The capacity of the New Tango service will be increased by 30 per cent to cater for the additional volumes. The seven 3,800-4,600 TEU ships currently on the service will be replaced by 5,500 TEU units, starting from New York on October 15.

The consolidation will bring economies of scale while allowing Hamburg Sud to find an outlet for several of its high reefer 5,500-TEU ships displaced on its high-volume loops by larger ships.

The move will also allow Hapag-Lloyd and CSAV to rationalise their USEC-ECSA loops before the merger of their container services. They will however lose some connectivity in reducing their USEC-ECSA sailing frequency from twice weekly to weekly.

The Atlantic North South service is operated with six 2,400-2,600 TEU ships, of which four are provided by NYK and two by Yang Ming. Hanjin and HMM, both slot buyers, will stop offering the service in November.

Source : HKSG.