APL announced on 31st March that members of the g6 alliance had identified additional void sailings within their Asia-Europe product to adjust to market demand. As the g6 alliance continues to review its product profile, the loop 6 services’ further void sailings started from Week 19 for an additional period of 8 weeks. The loop 6 service will resume in Week 27 (westbound ETA Fuzhou 7th July).

China Cosco Shipping Corporation (COSCOCS), the new shipping conglomerate consisting of Cosco group and China Shipping group, has started the integration of its domestic container shipping businesses. Puhai Shipping, the domestic container shipping unit of China Shipping group, merged into Cosco’s Shanghai Pan Asia Shipping as from 17th March. Shanghai Pan Asia Shipping operates 267 vessels with a total capacity of about 190,000 TEU, while Puhai Shipping runs about 50 vessels with 20,000 TEU.

CMA CGM launched a new WEMED service on 11th March dedicated to intra Mediterranean trades, linking 11 ports in 7 Mediterranean countries, (France, Spain, Turkey, Lebanon, Egypt, Malta and Algeria). This new service answers the area’s growing commercial exchanges, Turkey being a major economic partner for Mediterranean countries, and strengthens CMA CGM’s presence on its traditional market. Four 1,200 to 1,700 TEU-capacity vessels are deployed on this new line. The rotation is as follows: Marseille, Barcelona, Valencia, Malta, Mersin, Iskenderun, Beirut, Alexandria, Malta, Algiers and Marseille.

Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) continues to struggle but Hyundai Motor has steered clear of being drawn into any rescue package for the ailing shipping line. Hyundai Glovis, a logistics unit of the car manufacturer, had been earmarked to take over HMM, which is weighed down by more than $5bn in debts, but Hyundai Motor stated publically that it will not invest in HMM. Parent company Hyundai group is run by the widow of the late brother of Hyundai Motor’s chairman Chung Mong-Koo. HMM has since been told to cut charter costs or go bankrupt whilst Hanjin is pondering selling assets to reduce its debt. In late March HMM was thrown a lifeline when creditors approved a debt rescheduling plan. Based on its previous statement, the plan involves a three-month extension to the maturity of principal and interest of debts as well as a readjusting of debt based on due diligence carried out by external auditors. HMM operated 125 vessels as of end-2015, with 40 owned and 85 chartered-in. among the 85 chartered-in ships, 34 are containerships and 51 are bulk carriers. The latter sector could be the first to be sold off.

Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) resumed its container liner service to Northern Europe on 17th March when the 2,500 TEU capacity and 25,391gt/2003 built Azargoun called at Hamburg to reopen the company’s European Container line (ECI) between Northern Europe and ports in the Persian gulf following its closure in mid-2010 on account of sanctions. The new service will be operating with ships calling at Hamburg and Antwerp, along with Genoa, Istanbul, Port Said and Bandar abbes. In addition, the SEVGI will be resuming the conventional liner service with multi-purpose tonnage between Northern Europe and the Persian Gulf. IRISL’s liner services will be represented in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands by the firm currently being jointly set up by Peter W. Lampke GmbH & Co. KG (PWL) and IRISL (Europe) GmbH, namely IRISL agency (North) GmbH, based in Hamburg and with branches in Antwerp and Rotterdam. For several decades, iRiSl has operated regular services with containerships and conventional tonnage. The company owns 170 vessels.

APL has been removed from the g6 Consortium by potential new owner CMA CGM in order to win over the European Union’s antitrust approval for its $2.4 billion takeover of Neptune orient lines. EU competition authorities will rule on the takeover.

Knud E. Hansen, the Danish naval architect company, has recently been developing a number of pioneering container feeder vessel designs. Each of the designs presents a series of innovations as part of a solution tailored to specific requirements. The first in the series of three designs, the ECX-2000-C, relates to a 2,000 TEU vessel that was conceived to specialise in calling at small, narrow, up-river ports, for example the Port of Bangkok, Thailand. Navigating such harbours requires a vessel to have a shallow draught. To cater for this without a loss of power, the designers presented a special propeller arrangement employing a directly driven main propeller with a diameter of 5.8m and a counter-rotating azipod with a 4.7m propeller. A second design, the EXC-3800, foresees a vessel which does not require such a shallow draught and which will have a 3,800 TEU capacity. With draught not being a primary consideration, this design sees the feeder vessel fitted out with a larger diameter, slower-turning propeller. Unlike most feeder vessels, the deckhouse of this vessel is positioned slightly forward of amidships to maximize the number of container slots on deck considering the IMO requirements to the line of vision from the bridge. The added number of slots can be utilized in real-life loading conditions because the vessel is wider and has a higher stability than most feeder vessels of this size. The third arrangement, the TCX-3000 Concept, sees the application of an innovative hull shape suited for carriage of both partial and full container loads. The problem arises due to the differing ways in which a vessel behaves based upon its load. A large container vessel, when carrying few containers, offers shallow draught, but has so much stability that accelerations are too high, causing problems for the lashing gear and the crew. A stabilised monohull provides the solution with increased stability for full loads at deeper draught. The design features an open top section in the main hull, with 40ft containers stacked in a fixed cell guide system.

Maersk Line’s 170,794gt/2006 built Emma Maersk departed from Damen Shiprepair’s facility in Brest, France during March following dry dock services, a special survey and maintenance work. The vessel completed her second special survey plus assorted maintenance works at the shipyard, including the removal and subsequent refit of the propeller, which is among the heaviest in the world. The works also included the inspection of the boiler valves, ship side valves, inspection of the anchor and chains, and a complete wash down of the antifouling area, a total of 24,850m2, and equal to more than three football pitches. The Emma Maersk belongs to the eight member E-class. Maersk line A/S has selected Wärtsilä Nacos Platinum integrated navigation, automation, and propulsion control systems to be installed into its 27 new containerships. The container vessels are under construction at yards in China and South Korea. With the contracts signed in July and October 2015, and January 2016, Wärtsilä is to provide a power management system and control consoles, as well as external communication facilities. The equipment delivery is scheduled to commence in April 2016. The integrated system covers the control systems for navigation, automation, power and propulsion, allowing the vessel to be navigated, controlled, and monitored from various onboard positions.

NileDutch, the West Africa specialist container line, announced the acquisition of the Europe to West Africa services and operations from Safmarine MPV, an independently run multipurpose vessel business owned by Maersk line. Following the divestment of Safmarine MPVs owned vessels in 2015, this agreement marks the complete divestment of Safmarine MPV, which was announced in the Maersk group 2015 annual report. For years Safmarine MPV has demonstrated that breakbulk and containers is a strong combination so was therefore an inviting purchase. Niledutch and Safmarine MPV are both West Africa specialists with great heritage with the operations of Safmarine MPVs Europe to West Africa services continuing as Niledutch MPV with the first sailing commencing in April 2016.

Seaspan Corporation took delivery of a 10,000 TEU containership, the Mol Benefactor, in late March, marking the company’s first delivery in 2016. The new containership, which was constructed at Chinese builder Jiangsu Yangzi Xinfu Shipbuilding, is Seaspan’s ninth 10,000 TEU Saver design containership and the 18th 10,000 TEU vessel in total using Seaspan’s Saver design constructed at Yangzijiang. The company’s eighth 10,000 TEU Saver, delivered in September 2015 and named the Maersk Guayaquil, was chartered out on a five-year, fixed-rate time contract to Maersk line. The Mol Benefactor commences an eight-year, fixed-rate time charter with Japanese counterpart Mitsui O.S.K. lines ltd. (Mol). The ship is the last of a total of five 10,000 TEU Savers to be chartered by Seaspan to Mol. With this delivery, Seaspan will have nine vessels chartered to Mol. The delivery of the Mol Benefactor expands the company’s operating fleet to 86 vessels. Seaspan’s managed fleet consists of 118 containerships representing a total capacity of over 935,000 TEU, including 17 newbuilding containerships on order scheduled for delivery to Seaspan and third parties by the end of 2017.