GRAND Alliance shipping lines, Hapag-Lloyd, NYK, OOCL and MISC, plan to launch a new weekly container shipping service called, the Asia-Black Sea Express (ABX), that will call at ports in China, the Eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea from late June.

Seven 3,000 TEU vessels will be deployed in the new service to cover the following ports: Shanghai, Ningbo, Shekou, Singapore, Damietta, Istanbul, Constanza, Odessa, Izmir, Damietta, Singapore and back to Shanghai.

The new addition to the Grand Alliance product will further enhance the network. The service follows a decision by Hapag-Lloyd to leave its Asia-Black Sea joint service with CSAV Norasia, outside of the GA frame (ABS).

The ABX will boost to 10 the number of weekly loops that the Grand Alliance offers on the Asia-Europe-Med trade. Seven of them are operated by Grand Alliance itself, while the remaining three involve a slot charter agreement with the New World Alliance.