2The 2M alliance announced that it would suspend Asia to northern Europe for six weeks

he 2M alliance announced that it would suspend the six-week loop between Asia and northern Europe

American Shipping

2M alliance partners maersk line and Mediterranean line (MSC) will suspend their six-week round-trip routes from Asia to northern Europe at the end of this month.

As the other two alliances announced air navigation during China's golden week holiday in early October, 2M alliance chose "structural solution".

Starting from week 39, 11 18300-20600 TEU container ships will be withdrawn from the 2M alliance network indefinitely.

Maersk chief operating officer Soren Toft said: "" we believe that by implementing structural solutions in line with lower seasonal market demand, we can better support customers' supply chain needs rather than replacing abnormal and special voyage cancellations." "

Maersk added that the suspended AE2 service would "resume as demand picks up" and said it expected it to be "before Chinese New Year" in early February.

However, MSC has told its clients that its Swan service will be subject to "" temporary restructuring" ", which could resume "" at the end of the year" ".

The shipping companies added that container ship bookings on the AE2/Swan loop would be accepted by five other container ships, but did not tell how long the suspended containers were expected to wait for shipment.

The 2M alliance also announced it was suspending the AE5/Albatross westbound route in week 40.Hamburg, a subsidiary of maersk, has also sent out customer inquiries about the suspension of container shipping services, but modern merchant shipping, the buyer of the space, has so far not informed its customers of the cancellation.

"We're usually the last to be told.""Said one client.

Shippers are concerned about the availability of space because other shipping lines stopped sailing in early October.A British freight forwarder said today that 2M alliance is focused on "squeezing the westbound container market" to increase sea freight rates.

London-based Westbound Logistics Services said it believed maersk and MSC had acted because they had not pushed up transaction prices in recent weeks.

Ryan Clark, director and co-owner, said people had been waiting for hints about the cost of imports.

"" by forcing the supply and demand situation, the 2M alliance must raise sea freight or reduce the division between important sea freight or space." "

Shippers are likely to scramble for space because of October's heavy air traffic, and the knock-on effect of cancelling westbound flights will cause problems for European exporters booking return flights.

Spot rates for containers between Asia and northern Europe, as recorded by the Shanghai container freight index (SCFI) on Friday, were $933 /TEU, down 2.7 per cent from the previous week.

The suspension of AE2/Swan is another blow to the port of felixstown, which is still experiencing service disruptions after the launch of its new port operating system in June, reducing its 2M alliance affiliation from four to three per week.

This article is adapted from the shipping industry