THE Alliance culls US, Europe services amid weak Southeast Asia import demand

October 26, 2023

Ocean carriers in THE Alliance will suspend two neo-Panamax services from Southeast Asia — one to the US East Coast and one to Europe — amid continued softness in imports from that region.  

The latest service suspensions, which join other capacity cuts along the West Coast, signal that US demand for some Asia-sourced consumer goods will remain tepid following the record spending splurge of the previous two years.  

Hapag-Lloyd said Tuesday THE Alliance’s EC4 service to the US and its FE5 service to Europe will be suspended beginning the week of Nov.13 until further notice due to “the present market situation.” Both services have weekly capacity hovering at about 14,000 TEUs.  

The suspension of the EC4 service joins THE Alliance’s October suspension of its PN3 service from China and Southeast Asia to the Pacific Northwest. THE Alliance, along with other ocean carriers, have also had to aggressively cancel scheduled weekly sailings to meet the lower demand from shippers. 

Other US and European services will offer additional port calls to offset the service suspensions. THE Alliance’s EC1 and EC2 services will add calls to the Chinese ports of Xiamen and Yantian, respectively, that were served by the EC4 to the US. In addition, the EC5 service from Southeast Asia and the Indian Subcontinent will add a second call to the Port of New York and New Jersey and a call to the Port of Charleston in the absence of the EC4 service. 

For Europe, THE Alliance said it will add calls to Vietnam’s Port of Cai Mep on its FE3 service and the Port of Colombo on its FE4 service in the absence of the FE5 service.  

Theo JOC.com