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The acquisition of P&O Nedlloyd by Maersk has started yet another round of
cooperation and alliances and among shipping lines calling Port Klang
particularly at Northport.
While Maersk took steps to consolidate its services at Port Klang to
Northport, the withdrawal of P&O Nedlloyd from several alliances in the
East-West trades has left several lines to review partnership arrangements
in several alliances.
One of the major reviews was carried out by the Grand Alliance serving the
Asia-Europe trade in which P&O Nedlloyd was the senior partner.
With the withdrawal of P&O Nedlloyd, the other Grand Alliance members (Hapag-Lloyd
Container Line, MISC Berhad, Nippon Yusen Kaisha and Orient Overseas
Container Line) reaffirmed their commitment to their customers.
The consortium members have since concluded an agreement with the New World
Alliance comprising APL, Hyundai Merchant Marine and Mitsui O.S.K Lines for
the Europe-Far East sector.
The enhanced consortium members offered thee weekly services to Port Klang
with 23 ships and 166,400 TEUs weekly capacity in the Asia Europe trade
lane.
The Alliance will be deploying eight 8,000 TEUs carriers in the Loop EU3,
nine 7,800 TEUs carriers in the loop EU4 and another seven ships in the
range of 4,600 TEUs in the loop EU M.
The national carrier, MISC Bhd which is the member of the alliance said in a
statement recently with the new schedule, the member lines will offer an
extensive liner network, supplemented with feeder links that is precisely
tailored to customer requirements.
In the Port Klang-Africa trade, the demise of P&O Nedlloyd prompted the
remaining two partners (DELMAS and Mitsui O.S.K Lines) to firm-up their
decision to continue the service better and enhanced service.
The lines will deploy five-700 TEUs ships in a weekly service to provide the
shortest transit times to ports in Japan, the rest of Asia, and East Africa.
The carriers are confident that their service will continue to Malaysian
shippers’ choice for African market.
The rotation of the service covers Port Klang - Singapore - Colombo - Male
(biweekly calls) - Mombasa -Tanga - Dar Es Salaam - Mahe (biweekly calls) -
Colombo - Port Klang.
In the New Zealand trade lane, the departure of P&O Nedlloyd ships has left
MISC Bhd and Pacific International Lines to collaborate with three more
carriers namely Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha, Orient Overseas Container
Line and Mitsui O.S.K Lines as new partners in the trade.
The new consortium members have also decided to launch a two loop weekly
service in the Southeast Asia New Zealand sector.
The five member partners agreed to share space on nine vessels ranging from
1,300 - 1,600 TEUs.
The loop one service links Port Klang - Singapore - Brisbane - Auckland -
Napier - Lyttelton - Wellington - Nelson (alternate calls) - Brisbane - Port
Klang, while the second loop connects Singapore - Tauranga - Lyttelton –
Singapore. |
