Time to upgrade

Despite a downturn in trading and continued poor freight rates, container ship owners are ordering new tonnage, expanding services and introducing new routes.

Evergreen’s fleet continues to grow. Last year, the Taiwanese line placed an order at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) for five 5,364TEU U-class container ships; the yard already held orders for eight U-class vessels. The whole series are scheduled to be delivered at intervals to mid-2001.

Despite a fall in profits and revenue reported for last year, the company says that it will continue its strategy of ordering new tonnage to replace older ships in the fleet.

As part of its plan to establish what it refers to as “a truly global network”, and in response to demand and the change in trade patterns, Evergreen is looking to new routes and has made some changes to existing services. It has reshaped its transpacific operations and there are now five (as opposed to four) weekly transpacific services:

Round-the-world eastbound (RWE) and westbound (RWW); Korea/Japan/US West Coast (KJW); Transpacific north west (TPN); Transpacific south west (TPS); and

Hong Kong/Taiwan (HTW).

Norasia speeds up

Norasia Lines has decided to boost its presence in what it calls the ‘booming trans-Pacific trade lanes’ by introducing a new Asia-Pacific North West service. The expected port rotation for the service is Laem Chebang, Port Kelang, Singapore, Jakarta, Hong Kong, Keelung, Pusan, Vancouver and one US port in the Pacific North West. The link will, says the company, establish its ability to provide global services on the East-West trades. The new service will complement Norasia’s existing CEX service, which links Canada to North Europe and the Mediterranean.

Norasia has chosen to make its mark on the route by deploying its new class of fast 1,400 TEU newbuildings on the service. Norasia Samantha, Norasia Salome, Norasia Sultana, Norasia Savannah and Norasia Scarlet which were built by HDW in Kiel, Germany, are 25-knot vessels which are capable of linking Europe to Montreal in six days.

OOCL expands networks

Fine-tuning to the extensive Grand Alliance network of services continues. Following the announcement by Grand Alliance members (Hapag-Lloyd, NYK Line, Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL), and P&O Nedlloyd) of a new Tranpacific loop aimed at improving the service link between North Asia and the USA, member line OOCL has made known its own corresponding changes.

A new China Korea Express (CKX) service, which will begin at the end of July, will complement the five existing Asia/US West Coast services and the two between Asia/US East Coast. OOCL will charter five vessels, all of which are relative newbuilds.

In line with industry trends, OOCL has linked up with Wan Hai Lines Ltd to launch a new China/Middle East service. The two will offer a direct service between North China, other Asian ports and the Middle East. A total of six 1,100 TEU vessels will be deployed to ensure that the demand from customers is met, says OOCL.

OOCL has also made enhancements, including wider port coverage, increased frequency and faster transit times, to its Australian service network, again as a direct result of studying its existing customers’ needs. It has introduced new fixed day weekly services linking Australia to Japan, Korea, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. It sees the addition of the Northern Chinese ports of Shanghai and Qingdao as being particularly beneficial to customers.

Excluding the most recent charters for the new CKX service, the company’s present fleet, including chartered vessels, stands at 32 vessels aggregating 88,266 TEUs.

Yang Ming increases services

China’s Yang Ming Line has also embarked on fleet expansion and is expecting to take delivery of five 5,500TEU newbuildings by the end of 2000/early 2001. Two are building at China Shipbuilding Corp and three at Hyundai Heavy Industries.

Also in response to customer demand, the company has launched a new service route, NMX, between North Europe and East Mediterranean. It has also created two new weekly full liner services: India/Pakistan/Sri Lanka-Europe and Asia/Mediterranean/North America East Coast.

P&O Nedlloyd orders continue

It is P&O Nedlloyd’s view that the overall industry supply position is expected to be more favourable with a reduced delivery of new capacity into the market. Demand remains strong with signs of reducing imbalances in some trades.

The company is continuing its policy of replacing older tonnage with new ships in its drive to reduce operating costs. While the company expects to increase its capacities in line with growth in the trades, it says that there is no direct correlation between its order book and fleet capacity plans. The current fleet of ships managed by the company is 114.