THE 2M Alliance of MSC and Maersk has cut Tokyo from its Far East-US West Coast TP8 service in another sign of declining cargo volumes to and from Japan.
Manufacturing in Japan has waned since the mid-1980s, giving way to emerging markets in China and Southeast Asia.
Increasingly, Japanese shippers are having to depend on transshipment in China or South Korea to get their goods to the West.
Alphaliner says future shipments between Tokyo and California will be handled via transshipment in Shanghai using Sealand Asia's Shanghai - Japan Sakura Express as connecting feeder service.
Before Covid hit in 2019, more than 22,000 containerships called at Japanese ports of Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya, Osaka and Kobe according to government statistics.
But that fell to 20,000 port calls in 2020 and 18,000 in 2021. While 2022 figures are not out yet, further contraction is expected to come to a three-year low.
Maersk Line's customer advisory stated that removing Tokyo, which was the first Asian port of call for the service, aimed to "provide customers with efficient and reliable service", reports Container News.
The 13,568-TEU Maersk Edmonton is now en route from Oakland and will be the first vessel to exclude Tokyo and start the TP8's Asian rotation in Qingdao on June 12. The service will continue to complete in eight weeks with eight Maersk-operated 10,100- to 13,500-TEU ships calling at Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, Busan, Los Angeles, Oakland and back to Qingdao.
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