APL strips 20%-25% capacity from transpacific, Asia/Europe

Singapore-based shipping line APL said Tuesday it is reducing capacity and reorganizing its global network to better align with slowing container demand.

The moves were made, the carrier said, in response to increasingly challenging conditions in the major container trades.

Specifically, APL is reducing capacity in the Asia/Europe trade by close to 25 percent and the transpacific by 20 percent. The carrier will also suspend a service in the intra-Asia trade.

The traditional seasonal softening of demand in the main container trades has been compounded by the global financial crisis and economic slowdown, new APL President Eng Aik Meng said in a statement. In response to these factors, APL is taking quick and decisive action to adjust to this reduced demand and reconfigure our service networks to ensure we continue to meet our customers' container shipping needs.

The most significant changes come in the Asia/Europe trade, where demand has slowed and rates have plummeted industry-wide. Beginning Nov. 2, APL will suspend its China Europe Express service until further notice. The last vessel operating on the CEX will be the APL Austria with an ETA of Oct. 26 at Qingdao. According to ComPair Data, the CEX service is a New World Alliance loop on which the Grand Alliance partners have been taking space. Altogether six lines take space, although the ships are all APL's.

To compensate CEK's stoppage, APL has revised the port coverage and voyage length of its South China Express service, which will now make new westbound calls at Xiamen, Colombo and Southampton and new eastbound calls at Salalah and Hong Kong.

The SCX, which will now deploy nine vessels, will cease calling at Thamesport and eastbound at Chiwan. The SCX revised port rotation is Ningbo, Yangshan, Xiamen, Hong Kong, Chiwan, Singapore, Colombo, Southampton, Zeebrugge, Hamburg, Rotterdam, Salalah, Singapore, Hong Kong and Ningbo.

On the transpacific, APL will suspend its Pacific South Express 3 (PS-3), but will augment its PCX (Pacific China Express) with a port rotation of Ningbo, Yangshan, Gwanyang, Busan, Long Beach, Oakland, Busan, Gwanyang and Ningbo. Meanwhile, the Pacific South West (PSW) service will also be suspended, with the South Asia Express (SAX) now making additional calls at Yantian and Chiwan to offset the change. The revised SAX rotation will be Singapore, Yantian, Chiwan, Singapore, Kaohsiung, Chiwan and Singapore.

The Pacific Coast Express (PCE) will omit calls at Xingang and Nagoya, but will include an additional Busan call in the eastbound direction. Revised coverage is Qingdao, Pusan, Yokohama, Singapore, Oakland, Dutch Harbor, Yokohama, Pusan and Qingdao. Xingang will instead be covered by direct APL feeder service, which also calls at Dalian and Busan.

In the intra-Asia trade, APL will suspend its Singapore Subcontinent Express, with the SSX route now covered by a combination of the China Middle East Express (CMX) and the China Singapore Service (CSS). The CMX has been increased to a five-ship loop with a revised rotation of Shanghai, Hong Kong, Chiwan, Jebel Ali, Nhava Sheva, Colombo, Singapore and Shanghai.