Port of Hamburg: ‘not expecting’ lower box volumes through service changes

From April, the Ocean Alliance NEU 5 service handled by Eurogate Container Terminal Hamburg is being transferred to Antwerp. The service will be run by Ocean Alliance partner CMA CGM as FAL 3 with an approximate volume of 150,000 TEU, the Port of Hamburg said in a statement. It added that according to CMA CGM, the entire container volume carried until now to and from Hamburg by this service will be handled by the five Ocean Alliance liner services continuing to call at Hamburg: NEU 2, NEU 3, NEU 4, NEU 6 and NEU 7.

Port of Hamburg marketing joint chief executive Axel Mattern said “In the course of optimised annual planning, the resulting transfer of one of the six services creates no overall problem either for the shippers or the Port of Hamburg. The container cargo will continue to be handled directly in its entirety by these services in Hamburg.

“In the shipping industry, such liner service adjustment is absolutely normal when the shipping alliances develop new products and presents no case of concern. Hamburg is not losing any cargo because of it. The transfer of FAL 3 service is, said the Port of Hamburg, a decision by the Alliance partners to optimise ship voyages within the context of its global service network.