Premier Alliance carriers (HMM, ONE and Yang Ming) will split its current Mediterranean Pacific South 2 (MS2) into 2 separate services covering the Asia-Med Mediterranean 2 (MD2) service and the Middle East Gulf-US Gulf Pacific South 2 (GS2) service. The move will allow ONE to remove 10 China built ships currently deployed on the MS2 service from the US with the planned USTR port fee scheduled to take effect from October 2025. The current MS2 service deploys up to 21 ships of 13,000-15,000 teu
Wan Hai will return to the Asia-Med trade with the launch of the new Far East-Mediterranean 1 (FM1) service calling at Shanghai, Ningbo, Nansha, Shekou, Port Klang, Jeddah, Aqaba, Sokhna, Alexandria, Izmit, Ambarli, Shanghai from 12 September 2025. The FM1 service will turn in 10 weeks using ships of 4,300 teu to 5,000 teu starting with the 4,680 teu WAN HAI 513 at Shanghai on 12 September. The service features an extension of Wan Hai's Asia-Red Sea 2 (AR2) extra loader service that was launched
CMA CGM has upgraded the capacity of the ships deployed on its Asia-Med Phoenician Express (BEX2) service from the 8,500-11,500 teu scale to larger ships of 13,100-15,500 teu. The 13,136 teu CMA CGM COBALT was the first of the upsized ships to join the service on 26 March 2025, and has been followed by the larger 15,536 teu CMA CGM OSIRIS on 2 May 2025. The BEX2 service is the largest service on the Suez Canal, and the use of the larger ships will allow CMA CGM to enjoy the 15% discount on tran
MSC has cancelled the launch of its new Asia-Med Phoenix service that was originally scheduled to start at the end of February 2025 but have been repeatedly delayed before the service was finally withdrawn altogether in May 2025. The Phoenix service was to turn in 15 weeks using up to 15 ships of 6,000-14,000 teu to call at Busan, Ningbo, Shanghai, Shekou, Singapore, Iskenderun, Piraeus, Trieste, Koper, Iskenderun, Mersin, Singapore, Busan. The Phoenix service was 1 of the 6 Asia-Med services
Kawa Shipping has expanded its coverage to the Red Sea, Egypt and Turkey with a new Eastern Mediterranean Express (EMX) service from March 2025. The service is operated irregularly with connections covering Qingdao, Ningbo, Sokhna, Iskenderun, Mersin, Jeddah, Qingdao. The first sailing was made by the 1,063 teu LAN HAI ZHI YUAN that operated an ad hoc Dubai, Sokhna, Iskenderun, Mersin, Jeddah, Qingdao voyage from 2 March 2025. A second voyage by the 2,076 teu KAWA HONGKONG was launched from Qin
Marsa Ocean Shipping has become the latest carrier to join the Asia-Med trade with the introduction of the 2,466 teu MARSA NEPTUNE to Far East-Mediterranean FEM1 service that is jointly operated by CStar Line, Global Feeder Shipping (GFS) and Uniglobal Shipping (UGL). The Marsa ship will join the FEM1 on 24 February 2025 at Qingdao, with the service to be upgraded to a weekly frequency from its previous irregular sailings. The FEM1 calls at Qingdao, Shanghai, Nansha, Jeddah, Ambarli, Evyap, Jed
FESCO has launched a new FESCO Black Sea service connecting Nansha, Rizhao, Ningbo, Shanghai, Novorossiysk, Nansha from 19 November 2024. The service will tun in 8 weeks and will initially deploy a single ship - the 1,660 teu HT JOURNEY with a second ship scheduled to join the service in February 2024.
CMA CGM has continued to send its Asia-Med ships on the Red Sea/Suez route for its services calling at Lebanon. The 16,022 teu CMA CGM JULES VERNE passed the Bab al-Mandab Strait on a northbound transit on 23 October 2024 without incident. The ship will make a stop at Jeddah and Beirut before resuming its regular Mediterranean Club Express (MEX) stops at Malta, Valencia, Barcelona and Fos before returning to Beirut for a second off-schedule call on 20 November. The ship is scheduled to make anot
The 16,022 teu CMA CGM JULES VERNE has made an eastbound Suez Canal passage on 13 August 2024 and after a stop at Jeddah, the ship passed the Bab al-Mandab Strait on 19 August without any incident. It marks the largest containership to return to the Suez/Red Sea route since February this year, with all the other main carriers still avoiding the passage to avoid attacks on vessels by Houthi militants in Yemen. The CMA CGM JULES VERNE is deployed on the Mediterranean Club Express (MEX) using 15 s
CMA CGM has retained the Suez routing for its Asia-Med Phoenician Express (BEX2) service despite escalating tensions in the Middle East over the past week after Israeli forces attacked the port of Hodeidah in Yemen on 20 July in retaliation for the Houthi drone attack that hit Tel Aviv on 19 July 2024. The Phoenician Express (BEX2) calls at Shanghai, Ningbo, Busan, Shekou, Singapore, (Suez Canal), Alexandria, Beirut, Tripoli, Koper, Trieste, Rijeka, Alexandria, Jeddah, Port Klang, Shekou, Shang