Hanjin Shipping to cut Asia - Europe in January

Hanjin Shipping, currently operating five Asia-North Europe loops jointly with CKYH partners, will cut one voyage in its NE5 loop in January 2011 to meet the slack season downturn.

The voyage scheduled to be cancelled is the January 1st, 2011 position at Gwangyang, which was originally to be performed by MV Hanjin Bremerhaven.

Hanjin Shipping is currently deploying nine vessels in the NE5 loop, and COSCON, K-Line, Yang Ming and UASC are slot-takers.

Hanjin Shipping also has plans to further implement blank voyages in the remaining four loops, NE1, NE2, NE3 and NE4 after the Chinese New Year in response to the traditional drop in market demand after the long holiday.

Hanjin Shipping added that is considering further capacity reduction in Asia-Mediterranean loops. One scenario under discussion is to implement one blank voyage in each of the three Asia-Mediterranean loops, MD1, MD2 and MD3, during December, and another blank voyage each after Chinese New Year. As a second option, Hanjin Shipping is also considering suspension of one of the three loops during the slack season.