By Dale Crisp
As foreshadowed in this newsletter two weeks ago, Hyundai Merchant Marine, Evergreen Marine Corp and APL have announced a new central/southern China-Australia service, slated to begin in mid-August.
The new weekly operation, designated A1X, CAE and CA6 by the respective carriers, will rotate Ningbo, Shanghai, Yantian, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane. Five traditional panamax ships, at average 4600 TEU smaller than previously indicated, will be deployed with HMM supplying two and EMC and APL jointly providing the other three. It is understood APL's weekly allocation is considerably smaller than the other two, at c.800 TEU.
The partners are labelling the service 'premium express' and claiming the market's fastest transits from Yantian and Shanghai to Sydney of 11 days and 14 days respectively. It will use Hutchison terminals in Brisbane and Sydney and ICTSI's VICT in Melbourne.
The first southbound departure from Ningbo will be by the 4571 TEU Hyundai Supreme (previously used on the AAUS service when HMM was a full member, prior to May 2017) on 17 August.
In announcing the new partnership HMM noted that it currently provides China-Australia capacity through a slot purchase from Maersk, MSC, ONE, and Hamburg Süd (on the YoYo/Panda/CAE/AAUS service). HMM and APL have both been unhappy since last May's Hamburg Süd/Maersk-led rejig of the AAUS group, which saw them 'evicted' and searching for new homes. The then financially-fragile HMM could only manage to obtain slot charters while APL was able to join NEAX with one ship, but both ended up with substantially reduced allocations from China. For EMC the new service represents an expansion in this trade, although the line is expected to reduce its vessel commitment to either the NEAX or CAT services.
EMC said the expansion in service offerings was in response to the increasing trade demand on the route. Australia's economy is reported to have entered stable growth. "The rising population, mainly from robust immigration, has not only promoted the expansion of the consumer and housing markets, but also the development of public infrastructure – all stimulating cargo demand on this trade," the carrier said.
Meanwhile, HMM says it is now on the progression of elevating its Australian agent (currently a joint venture with Inchcape Shipping Services) to a subsidiary status "to strengthen its position in Australia and provide more stable service". The process will be completed before launching the new service.
It is believed EMC is also moving to take full ownership of its local agent, Evergreen Shipping Agency (Australia) Pty Ltd, established in 2002, which has branches in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.
The full text of the announcements from the three carriers can be accessed via the following links.
https://www.evergreen-marine.com/tuf1/jsp/TUF1_News.jsp?newsType=G1&newsId=NEWS2018061400001843&lang=en
https://www.hmm21.com/cms/company/engn/introduce/prcenter/news/1204324_7540.jsp
https://www.apl.com/wps/portal/apl/apl-home/news-media/press-releases/press-release/2018/apl+introduces+new+china-australia+service