Hapag-Lloyd and Hamburg Sud are terminating their Epic service which plies the trade between Europe, the Middle East and India, from May, after which the service will become 100 per cent CMA CGM-run.
The two carriers said that they will operate a restructured service deploying six 4,000-TEU ships fitted with 400 reefer plugs, with Hapag-Lloyd providing four of the containerships and Hamburg Sud two units.
The first departure on the amended Epic service is scheduled for the beginning of May, with an announcement on the port rotation to be made later.
At present Hapag-Lloyd and Hamburg Sud cooperate with CMA CGM on two weekly loops, the Epic 1 and Epic 2, a statement from CMA CGM said.
CMA CGM is the founding partner of the original EPIC service in 1997 (Europe Pakistan India Consortium), with Hapag-Lloyd among the slot buyers.
Hapag-Lloyd's involvement as a ship provider came in 2005 with the purchase of Contship, which was among the founding partners.
Hamburg Sud has been involved since January 2003 when it took over the relevant Ellerman Line services, purchased from Andrew Weir (Weir-Ellerman was also a founding partner of EPIC), allowing the German carrier to enter the Europe-Middle East-India trade.
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