The Alliance is boosting its trans-Pacific traffic. The group, consisting of Hapag-Lloyd, ONE, HMM and Yang Ming, has announced that it will bring back two services that had been suspended for almost six months.
On 15th April, the Asia-US East Coast 4 (EC4/SUEZ1) service, suspended in November for the winter break season, will be reinstated. The following rotation will be observed: Kaohsiung, Xiamen, Yantian, Cai Mep, Singapore, Norfolk, Savannah, Charleston, New York, Singapore and Kaohsiung. What is new compared to the past is the omission of Hong Kong among the ports the service calls at. This is due to rerouting transits from Suez and the preference given to the longer, safer, African route. In total, up to 13 ships will be deployed, with a capacity of between 13,000 and 14,000 TEUs.
On 19th April, the Pacific North 3 (PN3) service on the west coast of the United States, which was discontinued in October, will also be revived. It will make direct calls at Hong Kong, Haiphong, Yantian, Shanghai, Busan, Vancouver, Tacoma, Busan, Kaohsiung, Hong Kong and Haiphong. The service will be set up in eight weeks and will employ eight ships from HMM and Yang Ming.
Translation by Giles Foster
