Grand Alliance optimizes routes for better peak season service

The Grand Alliance members Hapag-Lloyd, NYK and OOCL are adjusting their service concept for Trans Pacific services during the main summer season to meet customer requirements even more effectively. The East Coast South (ECS) and East Coast North (ECN) will be reconfigured to offer more diverse loading options and optimal transit times from South, North and Central China.

The South China East Coast Express (SCE) will serve Taiwan and South China by calling at Kaohsiung, Shekou, Hong Kong, New York, Norfolk and Savannah. The North & Central China East Coast Express (NCE) will serve Korea as well as North and Central China by calling at Pusan, Dalian, Xingang, Qingdao, Ningbo, Shanghai, New York, Norfolk and Savannah. Each service loop will deploy 8 ships with capacities of between 3,500 and 4,400 TEU. Both services will start from the middle of June.

Through this reconfiguration, the Grand Alliance will further enhance their All Water service by offering competitive products from major Asian ports. Transit times from Hong Kong to New York and Shanghai to New York will be 23 days and 21 days respectively.

The Grand Alliance is the leading integrated consortium in global container shipping. Its members are Hapag-Lloyd (Germany), MISC Berhad (Malaysia), NYK (Japan) and OOCL (Hong Kong). MISC Berhad, another Grand Alliance member, does not provide any Trans Pacific services.