Thursday, April 30, 2009

Hamburg Süd to join Grand Alliance

A press release received from Hamburg Süd basically says they are pulling their ships out of the Europe to U.S. trade and will buy slots from other carriers in the Grand Alliance (a group of carriers operating a joint service).

It also gives information regarding a revamping of the service between Europe and South America, which I am quoting, should anyone be interested.



In view of rapidly deteriorating market conditions on the
Transatlantic, Hamburg Süd has decided to indefinitely suspend its
announced standalone service and replace it by participating in the
Atlantic Express Service (ATX) of the Grand Alliance.

Initially chartering slots, Hamburg Süd will be providing a vessel to
the service at a later stage.

The agreement is still subject to FMC approval which is expected to
be received by mid-June at which time the Hamburg Süd stand alone
service will be phased out while the new arrangement will be
implemented.

Hamburg Süd indicated that their decision was triggered by fast
declining volume and revenue levels in the Transatlantic which could
no longer justify adding further tonnage to an already greatly
overtonnaged trade. The shipping group hopes that the capacity
reduction will contribute to improve the balance of supply and demand
in the trade. At the same time, the cooperation with the Grand
Alliance provides Hamburg Süd's customer base with a cost
competitive, proven high quality product.

North Europe - South America East Coast (ECSA)
In the North Europe-ECSA trade, Hapag-Lloyd and Hamburg Süd have
decided to continue their cooperation by operating two complementary
weekly services on a fixed day frequency. Rotations are reconfirmed
to be as follows:

Sling 1: Rotterdam - Tilbury - Hamburg - Antwerp - Le Havre - Santos
- Buenos Aires - Montevideo - Rio Grande - Santos - Sepetiba -
Rotterdam

Sling 2: Rotterdam - Hamburg - Antwerp - Le Havre - Sepetiba -
Paranagua - Navegantes - Santos - Salavador - Rotterdam

The complementation of both slings provides for the most
comprehensive port coverage in the trade.

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