Member lines of THE Alliance are culling a further 20 sailings over the next month.
The sailings will be cut from four of its east-west services in April and early May due to drop in demand caused by the spread of the coronavirus.
“The adjustments to our services are based on the requirements of the market in the current situation,” THE Alliance partners said.
The move means THE Alliance has cancelled 15 of 40 planned sailings between Asia and Europe, affecting 15 ships with a capacity of 235,000-teu, according to Alphaliner estimates.
That comprises four blanked sailings between Asia and northern Europe, four between Asia and the Mediterranean, ten on the transpacific and two on the transatlantic.
THE Alliance said that “further, structural changes were planned in 2020”.
The move marks an inauspicious start for South Korean operator HMM, which joined THE Alliance on 1 April.
HMM becomes the fourth member along with Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd, Japan’s Ocean Network Express (ONE), and Yang Ming of Taiwan.
Demand drop
Liner operators have unveiled drastic reductions as European countries, under lockdown to slow down the spread of the coronavirus, see a sharp decline in demand for goods and services.
Sea-Intelligence estimates that liner operators cancelled 45 sailings in the week to 27 March.
That was impacted by a decision by the 2M partners, Maersk and Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC), to suspend two key services between Asia and Europe that are estimated to account for more that a fifth of capacity on the trade.
As the coronavirus spreads across the world, other trades see sailings blanked as well. India-related trades have been affected by cancellations, according to Alphaliner. These include three sailings on a service operated by Hapag-Lloyd, Cosco, Yang Ming and ONE that deploys vessels of 5,500-teu to 7,300-teu.
The fall in demand has led to increasingly bleak forecasts for the container trade.
Shipbroker Clarkson provisionally projects global box trade to contract by 5% in teu-miles in 2020.
