The corset remains tight

摘要

The third one of the major alliances is only expanding its network hesitantly after the abatement of the pandemic. It doesn't quite trust the upswing in the third quarter yet. The good news first. As volumes are returning to the market faster than expected, The Alliance (Hapag-Lloyd, HMM, ONE, Yang Ming) is set to resume four discontinued loops between the Far East and the Mediterranean region in June. Over and above this, two new transit routes from Asia to the US west coast will be started. This is only an echo from the second quarter of 2020, however. The two loops FE4 and FE2 between Asia and North Europe, in contrast, will remain combined through to the end of September 2020, as services are being blanked again in July. The eastbound route of the FE2 service will thus continue to operate around the Cape of Good Hope and leave out the shorter route passing through the Suez Canal. The FE3 service, in turn, will be extended to central Chinese ports in the third quarter of this year. Five services between Asia and the Mediterranean Sea will once again be blanked in July; whilst trans-Pacific traffic from Asia to the US west coast will see eleven sailings missed. The trans-Pacific PS5 option will thus be discontinued in July.