Global News ‘Strategic’ sailing cuts offset switch to new Asia-Europe networks: eeSea

Ocean carriers are employing “strategic blanked sailings” on the Asia-Europe trade lane as they manage the transition from old services to the new alliance networks, according to maritime intelligence firm eeSea.

The shifting services are occurring over the traditional Lunar New Year period with the slow season extending through March on Asia-Europe. Combined with longer voyages around southern Africa, it is allowing carriers to use strategically placed blank sailings to offset delays as vessels are repositioned.

“There is already a natural capacity slump on all east-west trades that [is occurring] in February and into March on Far East-Europe due to some of the old alliance services petering out before their successors pick up the slack,” Destine Ozuygur, chief analyst at eeSea, told the Journal of Commerce Wednesday.

The new Gemini Cooperation between Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd and the Premier Alliance of Ocean Network Express (ONE), Yang Ming and HMM — previously known as THE Alliance — both launched on Feb. 1. At the same time, Mediterranean Shipping Co. began shifting from the 2M Alliance it shared with Maersk while rolling out its global network as a standalone carrier, although it will be partnering with Zim Integrated Shipping Services on all six new Asia-US East Coast services.

Data from eeSea shows how THE Alliance services will start petering out in week 11 (March 3) with all Premier Alliance services having officially started by week 15 (April 7). The transition of services from 2M to Gemini will be shorter, with a two-week gap in weeks 11 and 12. ‘Not immediate or perfect’ Still, the handover of services from pro forma sailings and capacity was “not immediate or perfect,” Ozuygur said, adding that identifying which sailings had been canceled was difficult as carriers adjusted capacity for the Lunar New Year and accommodated ongoing Red Sea diversions.

Some 166,402 TEUs in capacity are scheduled to be blanked this month, more than three times the January level, eeSea data shows, with just 30,945 TEUs set to be withdrawn in March.

So far, 12 canceled sailings have been identified in week 11, seven in week 12 and eight in week 13, which eeSea said aligns with Lunar New Year blanks making their impact in European discharge ports a few weeks after the holiday.

“These blanks combined with the fact that we are still utilizing longer roundtrip times around Africa for the foreseeable future means that if there are blanks intended to pull out actual capacity, they will be difficult to disentangle from other factors,” Ozuygur said.

Roel Steigerwald, vice president of global forwarding in Europe at C.H. Robinson, said the forwarder’s customers were being advised to expect 40% to 50% fewer sailings in February because of the Lunar New Year cuts in capacity.

“We can also expect additional void sailings in March, as it tends to be a slower month,” he told the Journal of Commerce.

“If vessels return to using the Suez Canal, which would take months to fully implement the capacity shift, the decreased transit times could lead to an oversupply of capacity, potentially putting pressure on market dynamics and pricing,” Steigerwald added.