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Gold
Star Line, China Shipping
Container Line, and ANL Container
Line have formed a vessel sharing
agreement in the trade between
southeast Asia and the west coast
of Africa via the Indian Ocean
that will Port Klang
directly.
A
weekly service will link Ho Chi
Minh City, Bangkok, Leam Cha Bang,
Port Kelang, Colombo, Reunion,
Durban, Lagos, Tema, Cotonou, Lome
and Abidjan, starting early next
month
Meanwhile,
EVERGREEN and sister company Lloyd
Triestino are trimming capacity in
the trade between Asia and the
Mediterranean by replacing
existing tonnage with smaller
ships.
The
lead taken by one of the leading
independent lines in the trade
comes as other carriers and
consortia also draw up plans to
reduce cargo space without
disrupting service schedules.
Freight
rates have fallen sharply in
recent months as world trade has
slowed. Although ship utilisations
are still reasonable at this
stage, carriers are braced for a
deterioration in load factors
later in the year once the
traditional peak season is over.
Evergreen
is thought to have withdrawn all
the 3,600 teu ships from its Far
East Mediterranean service and
brought in 2,700 teu vessels
instead.
Nine
ships are deployed in the service,
most of which had been the larger
ones with just a couple of smaller
vessels.
The
3,600 teu ships are believed to
have been switched to a service
connecting Asia, South Africa and
South America that is operated in
partnership with China Ocean
Shipping Co.
The
capacity reduction does not affect
Evergreen’s services between
Asia and northern Europe that form
part of its round-the-world loops.
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