Services/Sailings

Tailwind Shipping Lines, the shipping subsidiary of German retailer Lidl, will revise its Panda Express (PAX) service between China and Europe with new calls at Colombo from October 2023 to cater for transhipment cargo from Bangladesh. The revamped service will deploy 5 ships of 4,900-5,700 teu on a fortnightly frequency connecting Qingdao, Ningbo, Da Chan Bay, Colombo, Koper, Barcelona, Rotterdam, Qingdao on a 70 day rotation. Tailwind will withdraw the direct connection between Chittagong and

United Africa Feeder Line (UAFL) has launched a new Zanzibar Feeder service that connects Zanzibar with Mutsamudu in the Comoros. The 618 teu UAFL ATHENS has been deployed on the new service from 19 September 2023, which will connect at Mutsamudu to UAFL's MEX (Middle East Express) service for relay connections to Nhava Sheva, Karachi and Jebel Ali.

Maldives State Shipping (MSS) will introduce a new MSS Transshipment Service that will connect the main port of  Male in the Maldives with ports in the southern part of the Maldives archipelago at Hithadoo and Kooddoo. The service will start from 27 October 2023 from Male with the MSS OPAL, a newly acquired geared 105 teu ship (ex CHOWGULE 7) that was acquired from Indian owners on 10 August 2023. The service will provide sailings every 10 days and connects at Male to MSS services that calls at

THE Alliance carriers (Hapag-Lloyd, HMM, ONE and Yang Ming) have announced the suspension of the PN3 transpacific service that connects Hong Kong, Yantian, Shanghai, Busan, Vancouver, Tacoma, Busan, Kaohsiung, Hong Kong from October 2023. The PN3 service deploys 7 ships of 8,500 to 11,700 teu with an average weekly capacity of 10,600 teu. The withdrawal will remove 3% of the current Far East-US West Coast capacity, with the last PN3 sailing departing from Hong Kong on 24 September 2023. THE Al

ONE, Namsung, TS Lines and SITC are joining hands to launch a new Korea China Indonesia (KCI) service calling at Busan, Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, Jakarta, Surabaya, Shekou, Xiamen, Busan from 10 October 2023. The KCI service will turn in 28 days using 4 ships of 2,400-3,000 teu. Each of the 4 partners will provide 1 ship each on the service, starting with the 2,954 teu TS MUNDRA at Busan on 10 October, to be followed by the 2,433 teu SITC MINGCHENG, 2,741 teu LORRAINE and 2,556 teu STARSHIP N

Zim and Gold Star Line (GSL) have changed the GSL Kolkata-Chittagong Express Shuttle (GKC) service to a Port Klang-Kolkata shuttle service but has retained the GKC service name. The new GKC is jointly operated with RCL which brands the service as the RCL Malaysia-Kolkata Service (RCH8). The GKC/RCH8 service will call Port Klang (Westports), Kolkata, Port Klang and turns in 2-3 weeks with up to 3 ships of 1,000-1,200 teu deployed, with the new deployment started in September 2023.

Several carriers have announced their participation in the new X-Press Feeders North China-India West Coast X-Press (NWX) service that is operated jointly with Maersk, which brands it as the FI3 (Far East-India 3) that will start from October 2023. ONE, ESL and Sinokor have all announced their participation in the service, branding it respectively by ONE as Northeast Asia to Pakistan and India (NPI), ESL as Far East West India (FWI) and Sinokor as the North China-India West Coast Express (NWX).

Safeen Feeders has launched a new UAE Pakistan Gulf (UPG) service that connect Abu Dhabi, Dammam, Bahrain, Karachi, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi from 10 September 2023. The service turns in 14 days and deploys the 2,542 teu SAFEEN PRIME and SAFEEN PRIZE.

MSC has added a Mex Gulf to Central America service through slots on Zim's Central America Gulf Xpress (CGX) that calls at Kingston, Houston, Altamira, Kingston, Moin, Santo Tomas de Castilla, Puerto Cortes, Kingston using 3 ships of 900-1,100 teu. The move follows the announcement of Zim's new operational collaboration agreement with MSC on trades connecting the Indian subcontinent with the East Mediterranean, the East Mediterranean with Northern Europe, and services connecting East Asia with

TS Lines will join Maersk/Sealand Asia on the new IA-10 service that calls at Taichung, Xiamen, Hong Kong, Shekou, Sihanoukville, Bangkok, Laem Chabang, Ho Chi Minh City, Batangas, Manila (North), Taichung. The service turns in 21 days using 3 ships with TS Lines adding the 1,808 teu TS BANGKOK to the service from 20 August 2023, joining the 1,774 teu NORDMAAS and 1,781 teu HELGOLAND from Maersk.