From Seanews Turkey
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CMA CGM, Hamburg Sud, UASC offer Asia-USEC Europe loop in May
A NEW Asia-Caribbean-USEC-north Europe pendulum service by CMA CGM and Hamburg Sud, with UASC making a transatlantic debut, will be launched in May.
The weekly service will deploy fifteen 4,000-5,000-TEU ships, with nine from CMA CGM, five from Hamburg Sud and one from United Arab Shipping Company (UASC).
The service will rotate through Qingdao, Ningbo, Shanghai, Busan, Cartagena (Columbia), Savannah, Charleston, Norfolk, New York, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Bremerhaven, Le Havre, Southampton, New York, Norfolk, Charleston, Savannah, Cartagena and back to Qingdao.
UASC, will debut on the north Atlantic, covering the USEC – north Europe – USEC leg of the service, with a weekly slot allocation of 660 TEU.
For CMA CGM, the transatlantic leg of the service will replace the carrier’s standalone Liberty Solo service.
Called a stopgap service by Alphaliner, the French line launched its Liberty Solo loop in January, using five ships of 1,700 – 2,100 TEU, rotating through Antwerp, Rotterdam, Bremerhaven, Le Havre, New York, Norfolk, Savannah, Charleston, New York and back to Antwerp.
The transpacific leg of the new pendulum will complement CMA CGM’s two Far East-US east coast services, the FE-USEC via Suez Columbus, operated within the Ocean Three arrangement with CSCL and UASC as partners, and the FE-US Gulf Coast PEX 3 service via Panama, operated independently by CMA CGM, with CSCL taking slots.
Hamburg Sud already offers transatlantic services through slots on the G6’s AX 1 and AX 3 services, on which it currently takes 750 TEU and 300 TEU per week respectively.
The launch of the pendulum will also mark the first time that Hamburg Sud deploys its own ships on the transpacific sector, complementing the carrier’s recent slot arrangement with UASC, effective since January.
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