THE Alliance has announced the
cancellation of 32 sailings this month on the Asia-Europe,
trans-Pacific, and trans-Atlantic trades, giving shippers and forwarders
just a few days' notice of the huge capacity cuts in an indication of
how quickly demand is falling.
With markets across most of Europe and
North America locked down in a battle with coronavirus disease 2019
(COVID-19) and no indication when demand-crushing stay-at-home orders
will be lifted, the alliances are making rapid capacity adjustments,
reports IHS Media.
Between week 15 (starting April 6) and week 18 (April 27), THE Alliance
will cancel seven sailings on the Asia-North Europe trade, five on
Asia-Mediterranean, 11 on Asia-US West Coast, five on Asia-US East
Coast, and four on the trans-Atlantic routes. Alphaliner estimates the
blanked sailings on the Asia-North Europe and Med services will affect
15 ships with a total capacity of 235,000 TEU.
"Due to the unprecedented nature of the COVID-19 pandemic and the
forecasted sharp downturn in demand, members of THE Alliance have
decided to modify our April sailing schedules," Hapag-Lloyd said in a statement issued on behalf of THE Alliance. The carriers said
customers can expect more network adjustments to be made.
The 2M Alliance of Maersk Line and Mediterranean Shipping Co last week also announced huge cuts in capacity, suspending the AE2/Swan
and AE20/Dragon services for the entire second quarter. The cuts from
April 6 to the second week of June will see 2M withdrawing 21 per cent
of its capacity from Asia-North Europe, and 22 per cent from Asia-Med
routes.
Maersk has also announced a further five voyages from China to North Europe will be blanked between April 13 and May 11.
Meanwhile, Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) announced the cancellation of 14 sailings on its trans-Pacific trade
between April 5 and May 30 due to "expected low demand in the market".
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