SIMIC

THE Asia to Mediterranean tradelane is the only bright spot in an otherwise gloomy shipping market, prompting the 2M Alliance to reinstate a voided sailing, reports London's Loadstar.
Asia-Med container spot rates have stabilised at twice the rate of those for northern range ports at between US$3,000 and $4,000 per FEU.
2M partner Maersk said the 24,000-TEU MSC Amelia, deployed on the 2M AE11/Jade loop from Asia to Mediterranean ports, would be "reinstated" due to "increased demand".
Alliances have blanked a third of sailings from Asia-Europe between weeks one and six, though some ships are back-hauling via the Cape of Good Hope to avoid Suez Canal fees.
The concentration of cancellations on certain loops has resulted in temporary service suspensions as consecutive sailings are blanked.
Remaining vessels deployed on the 2M AE1/Shogun loop, the 15,413-TEU Maersk Cambridge's scheduled departure from Ningbo on January 18 has now been cancelled, reports Alphaliner.
"Unless cancellations keep coming, the service should, in principle, resume with the February 15 departure of the 13,000-TEU MSC Katie from Ningbo," said Alphaliner.
However, despite the AE1/Shogun withdrawal and the voiding of four consecutive sailings on the AE55/Griffin loop, Maersk and MSC are still struggling to match supply with demand.
The 2M partners have announced two more cancellations this month: the January 19 sailing from Ningbo of the 19,462-TEU MSC Rifaya on the AE6/Lion service; and the 17,816-TEU Eugen on Maersk's AE7/Condor loop, scheduled to depart from Ningbo on January 24.
Ships appear to be in no rush to get back to Asia, so any operational delays through high winds no longer causes the usual vociferous complaints.
The port of Antwerp-Bruges has reported that 2022 year on year container volume was down 5.2 per cent to 13.5 million TEU.