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T.E. Raja Simhan

Chennai, Oct. 24 Container shipping line APL will suspend its Singapore Subcontinent Express (SSX) service that connects Nhava Sheva with Singapore, Port Klang and Chinese ports of Shanghai and Chiwan.

APL has said that the suspension from November 2 is part of its reduction in capacity and changes to its global service network in response to increasingly challenging conditions in the major container trades.

“It is a big blow to the trade. The APL service used to give a volume of around 2,400 TEUs (twenty foot equivalent unit) every week for the DP World Nhava Sheva container terminal. We do not know how to fill this slot. Despite the good volume, we do not know why they suspended the service,” said a source.

The SSX route will be now covered by a combination of the China-Middle East Express (CMX) and the China-Singapore Service (CSS).

CMX has been upsized to a “five ship loop” with a revised rotation of Shanghai, Hong Kong, Chiwan, Jebel Ali, Sharjah, Nhava Sheva, Colombo, Singapore and Shanghai. CSS will provide additional coverage of Shanghai and Ningbo, the shipping line said in its Web site.

The Singapore Subcontinent Express was launched in November 2004. It provided an extensive inland network in the India West Coast via the Nhava Sheva gateway, the line said when it launched the service.

APL, a member of the New World Alliance, said that it will reduce capacity in the Asia-Europe trade by close to 25 per cent on the transpacific trade by 20 per cent and also restructured its Inter-Asia services.

APL, a unit of Singapore-based Neptune Orient Lines, offers more than 60 weekly services and nearly 300 calls at more than 90 ports in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas. It is also suspending two other services on the transpacific route, APL said.

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