July 17th, 2008 12:03

By: Miksche

Age: 2 yrs

The new AEX8 service will arrive in Europe for the first time in early August 2008. The eight vessel loop has 22 days transit time, which was uniquely in slow-steaming times available to shippers between northern Europe and China as a result of the carrier’s strategy of only calling three ports in Europe and five ports in Asia.

 The new AEX8 is a fast service, but without compromising the company’s eco-friendly slow-steaming policy.

 AEX8 will deploy 8 x 9,700 TEU vessels – four provided by China Shipping and four supplied by its partner CMA CGM – on the following rotation: Shanghai, Xiamen, Yantian, Nansha, Port Kelang, Zeebrugge, Hamburg, Rotterdam and then direct to Shanghai.

 The executive expects that the call at the Chinese port of Nansha will generate considerable interest, given its proximity to the manufacturing bases in the Guangzhou vicinity. With the congestion-free Zeebrugge, the first discharge call in Europe, the carrier is confident that AEX8 will evolve into a winning format in an increasingly competitive market.