Hamburg Sud, Hapag-Lloyd, Hyundai Merchant Marine and APL are strengthening their cooperation on the Asia-Australia trade by bolstering their AAUS service to provide wider port coverage and faster transit times.
The AAUS service will be split into two loops from May 2008. One loop will be dedicated to the trade in North and East Asia, while the other loop will serve Taiwan and South China. In Australia, both loops will call at the ports of Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
The two loops service will deploy a total of nine 2,500-TEU ships, with five running the northern loop and four on the southern. Hamburg Sud will provide three ships, while Hapag-Lloyd, Hyundai Merchant Marine and APL will operate two vessels each, said a report by AXS-Alphaliner News.
It said that to begin with APL will purchase slots on the existing AAUS service until April 2008, after APL departed from the CAS service operated jointly with Cosco and PIL in December.
Hamburg Sud is expected to continue to operate its Asia-Australia-New Zealand service (ANZL) together with Tasman Orient Line as a co-loader, to enable Hamburg Sud to offer three arrivals per week ex North/East Asia in Brisbane and two arrivals per week in Sydney and Melbourne, the report added.
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