Peter T. Leach | Mar 10, 2011 12:12PM EST
The three carrier members of the Grand Alliance plan to overhaul their trans-Pacific services to the U.S. West Coast in advance of the peak season.
Hapag-Lloyd, NYK Line and OOCL said Thursday they plan to re-launch the Japan China Express, which they had suspended for the slack winter season.
At the same time they will restructure the Central China Express, South China Sea Express and the Super Shuttle Express.
As of May 15, the re-launched JCX will call Japanese ports currently covered by SCX and also will call Qingdao, which is currently called by CCX. In addition, the JCX will introduce a new direct call at Kwangyang on its eastbound leg.
Since JCX is taking over the Qingdao call, the CCX schedule will be improved by concentrating coverage on Pusan and Central China. The SCX will provide a direct connection from Vietnam's Cai Mep to Los Angeles.
SSX will offer a super shuttle express to the market from South China and Hong Kong together with direct coverage in Fuzhou.
The port rotations of JCX, CCX, SCX and SSX will be adjusted as follows on the dates listed:
As of May 15, the port rotation of the JCX service will be: Qingdao, Kwangyang, Kobe, Nagoya, Tokyo, Sendai, Los Angeles, Oakland, Tokyo, Nagoya, Kobe and back to Qingdao.
As of May 19, the CCX port rotation will be: Ningbo, Shanghai (Waigaoqiao), Shanghai (Yangshan), Pusan, Los Angeles, Oakland, Pusan and back to Ningbo.
As of May 8, the SCX port rotation will be: Laem Chabang, Singapore, Cai Mep, Kaohsiung, Los Angeles, Oakland, Kaohsiung, Shekou and back to Laem Chabang.
As of May 14, the SSX port rotation will be: Yantian, Shekou, Hong Kong, Long Beach, Kaohsiung, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Hong Kong and back to Yantian.
-- Contact Peter T. Leach at pleach@joc.com.