Port of Hamburg not expecting reduction in container throughput caused by liner service changes announced by Ocean Alliance and Maersk

From April, the Ocean Alliance NEU 5 service handled by EUROGATE Container Terminal Hamburg – CTH is being transferred to Antwerp. This service will be run by the Ocean Alliance Partner, CMA CGM as FAL 3 with an approximate annual volume of 150,000 TEU. Going forward, 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 in Hamburg. These are the full-container services NEU 2, NEU 3, NEU 4, NEU 6 and NEU 7.

“In the course of optimizing 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 in its entirety by these services in Hamburg,” stated Axel Mattern, Joint CEO of Port of Hamburg Marketing. “In the shipping industry such liner service adjustments are absolutely normal when the shipping alliances develop new products and present no cause for concern. Hamburg is not losing any cargo because of it,” added Mattern. 


The liner shipping partners in the Ocean Alliance are CMA CGM, Cosco Shipping, Evergreen and OOCL. For CMA CGM, one of the biggest Port of Hamburg customers in container transport with a total of 15 full-container and feeder services, the transfer of the FAL 3 service is a decision taken by the Alliance partners to optimize ships’ voyages within the context of its global service network. CMA CGM shipping line also points out that the container cargo handled until now by this service in Hamburg will be distributed among the other five Asia-Europe services continuing to call Hamburg. A shortfall in container cargo is not to be expected. With the ‘Ocean Alliance Day 4’ product starting in April, transport capacities and voyage times will even be improved for the global customers.


MAERSK, the Danish shipping line, has also reported a change to its sailing schedule: The ME 1 service that until now has weekly served India via Dubai and Saudi-Arabia with the German ports: Hamburg, Bremerhaven and Wilhelmshaven will, as of February, temporarily not be calling Hamburg. In customer information issued by MAERSK line, it is pointed out that container cargo previously carried on ME 1 can continue to be seamlessly handled on MAERSK’s AE 7 service to and from Hamburg.

“We assume that with Hamburg served by the AE 7 service, the majority of containers from the ME 1 service will continue to be handled in Hamburg after the fairway adjustment. The 12 mega-containerships deployed in the AE 7 service with a capacity of between 16,500 and 19,500 TEU offer the necessary transport capacity,” explained Ingo Egloff, who is Axel Mattern’s Joint CEO at Port of Hamburg Marketing. After suspending the ME 1 service, MAERSK will be calling Hamburg with a total of five container-liner services.