Evergreen Line will discontinue service eastbound to the port of Taranto on its China Europe Mediterranean (CEM) service.

Taranto will instead be added to the shipping company's China Europe Service (CES), reports AXS-Alphaliner News.

In other news, APL is planning to start a weekly service between Hong Kong and Manila called, the Manila Hong Kong Express (MHX), using the 450-TEU Tiger River.

Senator Line is going to leave the NW Europe-Near East-Southern route (Levant Express/JMS), run jointly with Hamburg-Sud. Hamburg Sud will continue to operate the service alone. The port rotation for this service is: Felixstowe, Hamburg and Antwerp to Alexandria, Beirut, Lattakia, Mersin, Izmir and Salerno.

In other news, Fesco Transport Group and the ESF group of companies have agreed to establish a joint venture called Fesco ESF Limited. Fesco will hold a 70 per cent interest in the JV. The new company will own assets of ESF and its affiliates that relate to ESF Euroservices Baltic feeder network between Continental Europe and Russia where Fescos operates a terminal in St Petersburg.

ESF Euroservices provides three container services between the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, Russia, Finland and the Baltic States. French shipping group CMA CGM is said to be a partner on these services.