CKYH Alliance to go Green

Ocean carrier members of the CKYH Alliance announced Monday that the group plans to rebrand itself as "CKYH - the Green Alliance," as the group continues to focus on reducing its collective environmental footprint.

The announcement was one of several key decisions coming out of the alliance members' 2010 Summit Meeting held last week in Zhenjiang, China.

At the summit, alliance members COSCO, "K" LINE, Yang Ming, and Hanjin Shipping also decided that all members will take "positive action to take full advantage of regional transship hubs," focus on building up extensive feeder networks, extend cooperation to the north/south trades and new emerging markets, and widen the scope of cooperation to "other sections of the transport chain by optimizing the alliance’s resources such as terminals, chassis, intermodal facilities and equipment," according to an alliance statement.

According to vessel and route tracking service ComPair Data, CKYH operates 17 transpacific routes, including 12 to the US West Coast and five to the US East Coast. ComPair Data also lists eight CKYH Asia-Europe routes and one transatlantic service.

COSCO to Add Transpac Capacity

Chinese ocean carrier COSCO Container Lines announced Tuesday that it plans to restore a total of 12,000 TEUs of capacity to its CEN transpacific service.

COSCO said the CEN service, which rotates between Northern China and the North American West Coast, will see its current six 5,500 TEU vessels swapped for six 7,500 TEU vessels. The expanded service, which will also add Ningbo as the last westbound Asia call, will begin phasing in the larger vessel on April 24 with all six expected to be in service by the end of May. COSCO operates the service as part of the CKYH Alliance, which also includes ocean carriers “K” Line, Yang Ming and Hanjin.

"Although we are still in a very challenging market financially, we have had many requests from both importers and exporters to restore capacity on this popular trade route and to consider adding a Ningbo call and we have heeded their advice," said a spokesman for COSCO Americas.

"It should be noted however, that we are still in a precarious position as far as current freight levels and the rising cost of moving cargo. We are cautiously optimistic that we will see some freight growth this year and hope that freight levels can increase to the point that further capacity can return to our transpacific services," he said.

The expanded CEN westbound rotation will be: Dalian, Xingang/Tianjin, Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, Prince Rupert, and Long Beach.

The eastbound rotation will be: Long Beach, Oakland, Yokohama and Dalian.

CKYH Alliance to Cut Boxship Speeds

Chinese shipping giant COSCO, in conjunction with its CKYH alliance partners “K” Line, Yang Ming and Hanjin, said the alliance plans to shift 50 percent of its collective fleet to 'super slow steaming.

In making the announcement Friday at the World Shipping Summit in Quingdao COSCO CEO and President Captain Wei Jiafu cited control costs, fuel savings, and control of greenhouse emissions as the primary reasons for the allliance taking the step. Members of the alliance have all been hit with substantial losses in the fiscal quarter ending Sept. 30. COSCO reported revenues fell 52 percent to $2.3 billion in the third quarter, "K" Line reported a net loss of $514 million on revenues of $2.35 billion, Yang Ming reported traffic volumes down 30 percent, and Hanjin on Thursday reported a net loss for the quarter of $338 million on revenues of $1.44 billion.

Captain Jiafu said that the alliance is welcoming other shipping lines to join in the move.