ZIM Line and THE Alliance have withdrawn one Asia-US West Coast service each, helping to stabilise Transpacific rates when the Shanghai Containerised Freight Index (SCFI) closed on 7 July.

The ZIM North Pacific (ZNP) service's last sailing, out of Busan, will be on 12 July. The service, accounting for 1% of Asia-US West Coast capacity, previously had seven to nine ships of 2,700 to 4,300 TEUs, calling at Kaohsiung, Yantian, Ningbo, Shanghai, Busan, Vancouver, Busan and Kaohsiung.

The Israeli ocean carrier will replace the ZNP by purchasing slots on Mediterranean Shipping Company's Chinook service, which calls at Yantian, Shanghai, Qingdao, Busan, Vancouver, Seattle, Portland and Yantian. However, ZIM will be excluded from the Seattle and Portland calls. Due to the ongoing strikes by dockers on the Canadian west coast, the North American port rotation will be reversed, with Seattle and Portland added before Vancouver.

THE Alliance, comprising Hapag-Lloyd, ONE, Yang Ming and HMM, will blank its PS5 Asia-US West Coast service from August, removing 3% of capacity on the lane. The service uses six ships of 8,000 to 9,000 TEU and calls at Shanghai, Ningbo, Los Angeles, Oakland, Tokyo and Shanghai.

THE Alliance will adjust the rotation of three of its FE-USWC services to maintain its network coverage, with a new westbound call at Tokyo added on the PS3 and a Shanghai call added on the PS6 while the Busan call is dropped on the PS6 to be replaced by a new Busan call on the PS7.

On 7 July, rates for the Asia-US West Coast and Asia-US East Coast were stable at US$1,404/FEU and US$2,368/FEU respectively.

Linerlytica noted that the withdrawals of ZIM and THE Alliance have cut Transpacific capacity by 14%.

However, the SCFI was still lower overall, as rates ex-Asia to Europe, the Persian Gulf and Australia were down. Asia-Europe rates closed 3% lower at US$740/TEU while the Asia-Persian Gulf rate lost 7% to US$1,145/TEU and the Asia-Australia rate fell 4% to US$249/TEU.

Linerlytica said, "More aggressive capacity cuts will be needed to bring about rate stability with carriers’ resolve to be tested over the next four weeks with their ability to push for rate increases in August still hanging in the balance."

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