Evergreen restructures transpacific services

Evergreen is to launch a new Europe – Asia – West Coast North America pendulum service next month as part of a restructuring of its transpacific services.

The line states that the new arrangement will improve service reliability and reduce bunker costs while having a minimal effect on transit times.

Evergreen's Asia United States (AUS) service, which currently sees nine vessels operating a twin-loop service linking California on one loop to Shanghai/Ningbo/ Qingdao and on the other loop to Kaohsiung/Hong Kong and Yantian, will be split in two. The southern loop will be incorporated into the new pendulum service while the northern loop will be replaced by a new China - South US West Coast (California) - China (CPS) service.

The new US West Coast - Asia - Europe (UAE) service is being created by merging the southern loop with Evergreen Line's China Europe Shuttle (CES) service to provide the following weekly schedule:

Los Angeles – Oakland – Taipei – Kaohsiung – Hong Kong – Yantian – Tanjung Pelepas – Colombo – Rotterdam – Hamburg – Thamesport – Zeebrugge – Taranto – Port Said – Colombo - Tanjung Pelepas – Yantian – Hong Kong - Kaohsiung Los Angeles

Service to newly built Taipei Port will be effective from March 3rd, 2009

Meanwhile the new CPS service will start from December 26th, 2008 on the Ever Unison 0315-093E, port rotations listed as follows:

Pusan – Shanghai – Ningbo – Qingdao – Los Angeles – Oakland – Pusan

Previously, the CES service employed eight 7,024 TEU S-type vessels while the AUS service employed nine vessels: two S-types, four 6,332 TEU E-types and three 5,362 TEU U-types.

In the reorganization of these services, an additional U-type will be drafted in and the UAE service will then be operated by 13 vessels (ten S-types and three E-types) and the CPS service by five vessels (two E-types and three U-types).

Amongst the benefits achieved by this restructuring is the inclusion of Pusan as a regular call in the CPS schedule and the ability to offer direct sailings between California and Evergreen’s South Asian hub ports of Tanjung Pelepas and Colombo.

These changes will take place during mid/late December 2008.