Member lines of the Oceania Vessel Sharing Agreement (VSA), namely Hamburg Sud, Hapag-Lloyd, and Maersk Line, along with ANL-USL plan to restructure their existing services between the west coast of North America and Australia/New Zealand.
Under the proposed agreement, the four lines will jointly offer eight monthly sailings under a three string service concept. ANL-USL will integrate its existing service with the Oceania VSA.
A weekly Pacific Southwest String (PSW-1) will utilise six 2,500-TEU vessels, calling at: Long Beach, Auckland, Melbourne, Sydney, Tauranga, Suva (three per month) Honolulu (one per month), Oakland, Long Beach.
A fortnightly Pacific Southwest String (PSW-2) will call at: Long Beach, Tauranga, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane or Tauranga (to be confirmed), Long Beach, a joint statement said. The new PSW-2 string will be operated with three 1,300-TEU vessels.
The Pacific Northwest (PNW) string will sail fortnightly from Seattle, Vancouver, Long Beach to Tauranga, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and return via Auckland, Papeete (Tahiti), Ensenada (Mexico) to Oakland and Seattle. The PNW string will deploy four 1,700-TEU vessels.
"The departure days of the fortnightly PSW-2 and fortnightly PNW string from Long Beach are timed in such a way as to provide weekly fixed-day departures," the release said.
It added the Oceania VSA will provide 104 sailings in each direction, and the start-up of the new service structure is planned for August.
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