Financial News

Hamburg, 8 November 2016

THE Alliance announces plans for its competitive product

31 services covering all East West trade lanes with short transit times / Fast shuttle services / Dedicated Middle East loop / 240 modern and most efficient ships / Comprehensive port coverage with over 75 ports in Asia, North Europe, the Mediterranean, North America and the Middle East

The members of THE Alliance announced today the details of the plan for their product starting from April 2017. THE Alliance plans to deploy a fleet of more than 240 modern ships in the Asia/Europe, North Atlantic and Trans-Pacific trade lanes including the Middle East and the Arabian Gulf/Red Sea. The start of THE Alliance as the most integrated liner shipping consortia is scheduled for April 2017 (subject to completion of all relevant regulatory requirements).

"The product of THE Alliance is a milestone which will significantly improve the service offering for all shippers on the East West trade lanes", said the member carriers Hapag-Lloyd, "K"Line, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Nippon Yusen Kaisha and Yang Ming in a statement. The product will be characterized by fast transit times, a broad port coverage and deployment of modern and most efficient ships. "Our best ship for the loop principle and dedicated shuttle service design are the basis for one of the most competitive products available in the market", the member lines said. The comprehensive network of 31 services would connect more than 75 major ports throughout Asia, North Europe, the Mediterranean, North America, Canada, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, Indian Sub Continent and the Middle East with fast transit times and a wide range of direct port-port-connections.

The product of THE Alliance will feature eight services in the Asia/Europe trade including three services covering the important Mediterranean market. One dedicated service will cater for customers in the Middle East, connecting the key ports of China, South Korea and South East Asia with Dammam, Jubail and an Arabian Gulf hub port. 16 joint services will be operated by THE Alliance members on the Trans Pacific trade. Six loops will serve the North Atlantic trade covering a wide range of North European and Mediterranean ports as well as those in the US, Canada and Mexico.

The service network of THE Alliance is expected to cover more than 24 ports in Asia including ten Chinese and five Japanese ports with direct calls as well as 20 ports in the US and Canada, six North European and 13 Mediterranean ports, six ports in the Middle East and six ports in Central America/Caribbean.

Through this robust network, THE Alliance will offer a superior, reliable, efficient, and wide ranging product suite to shippers in the East/West lanes. The partners of THE Alliance will keep the market informed about further steps and the final, more precise service rotations.

About Hapag-Lloyd

With a fleet of 170 modern container ships and a total transport capacity of 952,000 TEU, Hapag-Lloyd is one of the world's leading liner shipping companies. The Company has around 9,300 employees at 365 sites in 120 countries. Hapag-Lloyd has a container capacity of 1.5 million TEU - including one of the largest and most modern fleets of reefer containers. A total of 128 liner services worldwide ensure fast, reliable connections between all the continents. Hapag-Lloyd is one of the leading operators in the Transatlantic, Latin America and Intra-America trades.