The 2M Alliance cuts its transpacific capacity

Maersk Line and MSC lines - of the 2M Alliance - will suspend a weekly freighter service from North Asia to the US West Coast and a weekly shipping service from South Asia to the US East Coast for the rest of the quarter. two, the carriers said on Thursday. They will also cancel individual additional sailings to North America.

The reduction in capacity on this transpacific service, following Wednesday's announcement of the Alliance of 32 trains canceled on the transpacific and Asia-Europe, is much anticipated. Retailers and manufacturers canceled orders at factories in Asia due to a sharp decline in consumer demand as the Corona 2019 virus outbreak (COVID-19) spread globally.

The suspension of two weekly services on the transpacific service, plus the cancellation of other individual trains starting April 20, is expected to reduce the total capacity of the 2M Alliance on transpacific is about 20%, Lars Jensen, CEO of container shipping analysis firm Sea-Intelligence Maritime Consulting, said in a LinkedIn post on Thursday.

Maersk said the 2M Alliance will compensate for sailings on the two services being paused with similar weekly services on the same route. The 2M Alliance is suspending TP 11 / Elephant service from South Asia to the East Coast and TP 8 / Orient service from North Asia to the West Bank. The 2M alliance will compensate for TP 8 services from Ningbo and Busan via TP 2 and TP 6, Maersk said, respectively.

The announcement did not specify how carriers ensure full coverage of TP 11's ports - connecting Xiamen, Kaohsiung, Shekou, Yantian, Vung Tau, Laem Chabang, Singapore, Tanjung Pelepas, Colombo and Salalah with New York-New Jersey, Norfolk, Charleston, Savannah, Miami, and Freeport, Bahamas - according to Maersk's current service network.

Blank other individual sailings

The 2M Alliance will cancel another five separate sailings, all transport from Asia to the US East Coast, in April and May. Firms have also left open the possibility of further capacity cuts if demand remains weak and if the recession involves measures to slow the spread of the Corona virus. "Maersk will continually review the market situation and will continually adjust capacity to match demand," the company said. Meanwhile, THE Alliance of Hapag-Lloyd, HMM, Ocean Network Express and Yang Ming will cancel 11 sailings from Asia to the US West Coast and 5 salings to the US East Coast from mid-Week 15 starting April 6 and Week 18 starting April 27, due to forecasts of a sharp decline in demand caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Phaata (Source: JOC)

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