Taiwan’s Evergreen Line will launch a joint South China-East Malaysia (SEM) service with Mariana Express, a container liner operator headquartered in Singapore and focused on niche routes in the Asia-Pacific region, as the two lines beef up their intra-Asia presence, particularly in the emerging Southeast Asian bloc.
The SEM service will employ two ships with around 1,000-TEU capacity each.
Sailings will be weekly, with the first sailing planned to depart from Shekou on September 10. Port rotation is Shekou, Hong Kong, Kota Kinabalu (Malaysia), Muara (Brunei), Bintulu (Malaysia), and back to Shekou.
Evergreen Line is also set to further improve network connections in Asia by taking space on Interasia Lines’ Singapore-Yangon (Burma)-Malaysia (SYM) service under a slot-swap arrangement. Providing Evergreen customers with an additional feeder connection to Yangon, the SYM loop will call at Singapore, Yangon, Port Klang, Yangon, and then back to Singapore.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, made up of Southeast Asian states, boast some of the world’s highest forecast rates of economic growth currently. The ASEAN economy as a whole looks set to grow by 4.6 percent in 2014, and by 5.6 percent in 2015, according to the IMF’s World Economic Outlook report published in July.
The ASEAN community recently set as a priority its negotiations with China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, and New Zealand to establish the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). If it pushes through, the RCEP is seen to further encourage free trade, thus driving cargo growth within the intra-Asia trade.
Zim’s new boss
In other news, Israeli shipping line Zim Integrated Shipping Services has announced the appointment of Aharon Fogel, 67, as chairman of the company, with the date of effectivity of the nomination still to be announced.
Zim’s board of directors unanimously approved the appointment of Fogel, whose many years of experience in economics and finance is seen to “contribute to leading ZIM on its new path after the restructuring.”
Fogel joins Zim following a diverse career in both the public and private sectors. Over the years he has held a number of senior positions, including director general of the Israeli Ministry of Finance, chairman of NESS Technologies, chairman of Migdal Insurance, and chairman of the Advisory Committee to the Bank of Israel. Fogel holds a B.A. in Economics and Statistics and an M.A. in Economics from the Hebrew University.
CMA CGM levies port congestion surcharge
Meanwhile, CMA CGM will implement an emergency port congestion surcharge on all cargoes from all Asian ports to Sohar in Oman.
Effective September 8, a charge of US$100 per 20-foot container and $200 per 40-foot unit will be imposed by the French company on its CIMEX services.
PSS on OOCL services
On the other hand, Orient Overseas Container Line said it will levy a peak season surcharge (PSS) on its Northeast Asia to New Zealand services of US$150 per TEU.
The PSS is applicable to all shipments from Northeast Asia (excluding Japan) to New Zealand effective from September 20. It covers shipments from Korea, China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong to New Zealand.
Photo: JAXPORT
