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HMM Pulls Out from Transatlantic
South Korean shipping company Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) is ending its two Transatlantic loops to concentrate on its core trades.
“HMM will no longer serve the Transatlatic trade until further notice,” HMM informed in a customer advisory.
The company said that the two loops linking North Europe to the United States were being terminated as a response to the ongoing market conditions.
The TA2 and TA3 loops were introduced via HMM’s cooperation agreement with 2M Alliance comprising Maersk Line and MSC.
“It is true that HMM is pulling out from TA2 and TA3 service offered through 2M+H cooperation, but it doesn’t affect strong relationship with 2M,” an HMM Spokesperson told World Maritime News.
The trio signed the cooperation agreement in March 2017, officially launching their strategic cooperation on East-West trades.
This strategic cooperation has a length of three years with an extension option and includes a series of slot exchanges and slot purchases on East-West routes.
HMM added that it plans to accept bookings for Transatlantic until July 31.
Maersk Line Boosts Canada-Europe Links with New Transatlantic Service
Danish shipping giant Maersk Line is expanding its presence between Europe’s Mediterranean region and Canada to cater for the growing demands on both sides of the Atlantic.
The company is introducing a new weekly service that will be a five-vessel rotation stopping in Salerno and La Spezia (Italy), Fos-sur-Mer (France), Algeciras (Spain), Montreal and Halifax (Canada), and Valencia (Spain).
The fully Maersk Line-operated service — the Mediterranean-Montreal Express — will have its first sailing on July 2, departing from Salerno and arriving in Montreal on July 19.
Other Mediterranean markets will also be connected to the new service through the company’s integrated transshipment services in Algeciras and Valencia, with products to/from the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, according to the company.
The new service will call Montreal’s Cast terminal, operated by MGT, which is located closest to the ocean and offers easy access to rail and trucking options.
In addition, the service will make an Eastbound call in Halifax, Nova Scotia, catering for an important Canadian perishable market and facilitating refrigerated shipments of foodstuff traditionally exported from Canadian Maritime Provinces.
Maersk Line, MSC Resort to Emergency Bunker Surcharge amid Rising Bunker Prices.
Danish liner company Maersk Line has decided to introduce an Emergency Bunker Surcharge (EBS) as a way of coping with the rising bunker prices.
“The increase in bunker price in 2018 has been significantly higher than what had been expected and has now reached a level of 440 USD/ton in Europe, the highest since 2014”, the company said in a customer advisory.
As informed, the increase is more than 20 pct higher when compared to the beginning of 2018.
Maersk Line said that due to the unexpected development it was no longer possible for the company to recover bunker costs through the standard bunker adjustment factors.
High bunker costs was one of the key factors that impacted A.P. Moller-Maersk’s earnings in the Ocean segment, which reached USD 492 million.
Søren Skou, CEO of A.P. Møller Mærsk, announced that in response to the current challenging market conditions the group is implementing a number of short-term initiatives to improve profitability.
These will include scaling down of capacity and charter deals as well as closing down of some services in order to drive the unit costs down. The company anticipates to cut the costs on annual basis by 2 pct.
Third CMA CGM Saver Handed Over to Seaspan
Hong Kong’s containership owner Seaspan Corporation has taken delivery of a 10,000 TEU SAVER design containership, CMA CGM Mumbai.
The vessel will start a fixed rate time charter with French shipping major CMA CGM for a three-year term with an option to extend for an additional three years.
Constructed at Jiangsu Yangzi Xinfu Shipbuilding and Jiangsu New Yangzi Shipbuilding., the new boxship is the third in a series of four 10,000 TEU ships under time charter to CMA CGM that are scheduled to deliver in the first half of 2018.
Seaspan added the first and the second units from the batch on May 9 and 11, respectively.
The vessels, namely CMA CGM Mundra and CMA CGM Cochin, both have fixed rate time charters with the French shipping firm for three years each, with options to extend for an additional three years.
Source: World Maritime News
