Grand Alliance restructuring Asia-East Med/Black Sea Service

Grand Alliance members - Hapag-Lloyd, MISC Berhad, Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) and Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) announced today to restructure the coverage of the Asia-East Med/Black Sea trade. After having suspended the ABX service as reported earlier, the Grand Alliance is now offering an East Med/Black Sea Express service (EMX) in co-operation with ZIM Lines.

The rotation of the EMX is Pusan, Shanghai, Ningbo, Shekou, Port Klang, Colombo, Nhava Sheva, Istanbul, Novorossiysk, Constanta, Istanbul, Nhava Sheva, Colombo, Port Klang, Shekou, Pusan.

First sailing will be the ‘ZIM YOKOHAMA’ ETA 23rd February 2009 at Pusan.
With this arrangement the Grand Alliance Lines continue to offer a direct coverage to the main ports in the East Med as well as Black Sea and like to demonstrate their commitment in serving the needs of their customers even in rather volatile markets.

The Grand Alliance, formed in 1998, is the leading integrated consortium in global container shipping. Its members are Hapag-Lloyd (Germany), MISC Berhad (Malaysia), NYK (Japan) and OOCL (Hong Kong). MISC Berhad does not provide any Transpacific services.