China Shipping Container Lines is ending its weekly westbound round-the-world Asia-Med-America Express (AMAX) service, according to a report.
"The AMAX service has been in operation for about two years and it really was an experiment for China Shipping Container Lines," said Bernie Dumas, general manager of sales and marketing for China Shipping (Canada) Agency Co. Ltd. "It was sort of an oddball service in a sense that it has a round-the-world operation, and the revenues produced by the service were not up to (company) needs, and they decided to disband it and reallocate the ships to other services.
"They are basically looking at the possibility of doing something in Halifax later on, but this service was just not operating to their needs. It happens in this business from time to time."
According to ComPairData ( www.compairdata.com), American Shipper's affiliated global liner services database, AMAX uses 10 ships averaging 4,151 TEUs and has a full port rotation of Lianyungang; Busan; Shanghai; Ningbo; Xiamen; Yantian; Chiwan; Port Kelang; Damietta, Egypt; Haifa; Naples; Genoa; Barcelona; Valencia; Halifax, Nova Scotia; New York; Norfolk, Va.; Savannah, Ga.; Miami; Los Angeles; and back to Lianyungang.
The loss of the service will be a particular blow to the Halifax Port Authority, which lost another service connecting it with the Far East via the Suez Canal earlier this year when Maersk Line adjusted its network.
"At the moment we are working with China Shipping and our local partners, including CN, to see if Halifax can be included in any new (future) services that will include East Coast ports of call," said Michele Peveril, a spokeswoman for the Canadian port authority.