COSCO Container Lines and Evergreen Marine combined their existing joint ESA and FAX services linking the Far East, South Africa and east coast of South America into a single new weekly ESA service.
The carriers said the move aims to minimize the impact of soaring bunker prices and is a response to deteriorating market conditions in the trade.
The service will comprise eleven 3500-TEU vessels, four from Cosco and seven from Evergreen.
The MASS 0816W, the first vessel in the new service, will depart Shanghai on July 6th.
Port rotation is Shanghai, Ningbo, Kaohsiung, Yantian, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tanjung Pelepas, Durban, Cape Town, Montevideo, Buenos Aires, Paranagua, Santos, Durban, Singapore, Hong Kong and back to Shanghai.