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THE Alliance will suspend EC4 route from the 46th week of this year and upgrade existing EC1, EC2 and EC5 routes.
On October 24, Hapag-Lloyd issued a notice stating that the THE Alliance announced adjustments to multiple Asia-US East Coast routes, aiming to provide customers with a broader coverage of route services.
Specifically, THE Alliance will suspend EC4 route from the 46th week of this year and upgrade the existing EC1, EC2 and EC5 routes.
Hapag-Lloyd related announcements
The upgraded EC1 route has added Xiamen Port as a new port of call, with the new port of call sequence as follows：
Kaohsiung-Xiamen-Yantian-Yangshan, Shanghai-Ningbo-Busan-(Panama Canal)-Manzanillo-New York-Norfolk-Charleston-Savannah-Manzanillo-(Panama Canal)-Rhode Island-Kaohsiung.
The upgraded EC2 route has added Yantian Port as a new port of call, with the new port of call sequence as follows：
Qingdao-Yantian-Ningbo-Shanghai Yangshan-Busan-(Panama Canal)-Cartagena-Savannah-Charleston-Wilmington-Norfolk-Cartagena-(Panama Canal)-Busan-Qingdao.
In addition, the upgraded EC5 route has added Charleston and New York ports as new ports of call, with the new port of call sequence as follows.：
Laem Chabang-Khai May-Singapore-Colombo-(Suez Canal)-Halifax-New York-Norfolk-Savannah-Jacksonville-Charleston-New York-Halifax-(Suez Canal)-Jebel Ali-Singapore-Laem Chabang.
It is worth noting that recently, THE Alliance has made several adjustments to the trans-Pacific route.
On September 20, the THE Alliance announced adjustments to the Asia-US West Coast route, suspending the PN3 route and upgrading the PN2 route.
After the upgrade, the port sequence of the PN2 route is Singapore-Litchi Ban-Gai Mei-Haiphong-Yantian-Shanghai Yangshan-Busan-Vancouver-Tacoma-Tokyo-Kobe-Kaohsiung-Hong Kong-Singapore. In addition, on July 6, THE Alliance also adjusted the Asia-West Coast route network, suspended the PS5 route, and upgraded the existing PS3, PS6 and PS7 routes.
The volume of goods in the peak season this year is not ideal. In the past, the price in the west was lower than that in the east, but in October, the price reversed. The price in the west exceeded that in the east. This is also due to the layout of shipping companies in the past two or three years. Due to congestion and labor in the entire west port, some shipping capacity is inclined to the east, resulting in a surplus of capacity in the east. This makes shipping companies start a price war, and slightly smaller shipping companies can not bear it and choose to stop the route.
The US East Coast route has two characteristics.：
One is that the time is longer, taking about 30 days, so more shipping capacity is invested.
The other is that the Panama Canal will further reduce daily transits starting from November due to continuous drought. The Panama Canal Authority issued a notice on October 30 local time that due to the continued lack of precipitation in the canal watershed, the October precipitation has set a record low since 1950, and the Gatun Lake water level has reached the lowest level in the same period of history. The Panama Canal will further reduce its daily transit capacity starting from early November, and the number of ships that can be booked through the canal will be reduced and will continue until February. Since the drought affected shipping in July, the cost of transporting propane and other fuels through the Panama Canal has skyrocketed. The US Energy Information Administration reported on Tuesday that as of September 29, the rent for the largest gas tankers (VLGCs) on the Houston-to-Japan route has reached a record high of $250 per ton, the highest level since fixed prices were first published in 2016.
