More boxship carriers opt for extra slow steaming

The recent Alphaliner newsletter reports that carriers continue to apply extra slow steaming to their long haul loops as the FO prices stay above the $400 mark. Five more services are in the process of being stretched by one week:

– Zim – Med-US-Far East Service (ZCS)

– Zim – Far East-East Mediterranean Express Service (EMX)

– UASC – Far East-ME-Europe service (AEC-2)

– CSAV Norasia – Asia-Near East-Black Sea service (ABS)

– CMA CGM/CSCL/CSAV – East Asia-Mexico-Caribbean-NCSA service

(PEX2/AAE2/PACAR)

Zim is to introduce extra slow steaming on two of its major services, the ZCS and EMX, with an additional 4,250 teu vessel added to each service. The ZCS will be run with 16 vessels while the EMX will deploy 11 vessels. The port rotations will remain unchanged.

UASC will also follow the trend with one additional 6,900 teu vessel added to its AEC-2 service with the rotation stretched to 10 weeks. The AEC-2 rotation remains unchanged.

CSAV will extend two of its services by a week, first with a ninth vessel on the ABS service and an eleventh vessel on the PACAR service jointly run with CMA CGM and CSCL. In addition, the CKYH carriers are expected to stretch several Far East-Europe loops by one week.