News / Ocean Alliance launches Day 8 network – but it's light on detail

Photo: CMA CGM

Following the recent renewal of their cooperation until 2032, the Ocean Alliance members have launched their new east-west network for the year.

However, details of the Day 8 product – it is the eighth year of the alliance’s operation – were relatively scant, suggesting that vessels have yet to be assigned to specific services and there are still questions over port rotations, understandable given the current uncertainty over Red Sea transit.

“Due to the unstable situation in the Red Sea, ships must be routed through the Cape of Good Hope, disrupting supply chains,” said CMA CGM, adding that it and its alliance partners were “stepping up coordination and adapting the rotations of the DAY 8 product”.

However, CMA CGM did reveal a reduction in the overall number of services and number of ships deployed: the Day 8 network would utilise 321 vessels across 35 services, compared with the proforma Day 7 notice a year ago, which outlined 40 services deploying 353 ships.

The headline changes are the reduction of the Asia-North Europe network from seven strings to six, and in Asia-Middle East services, from four strings to three.

Pro forma, the two Asia-Red Sea services remain unchanged, however CMA CGM today said these two services “are suspended until further notice”.

Meanwhile, on the transpacific, there will be 12 Asia-North America west coast, eight Asia-US east coast, four Asia-Med and two transatlantic services.

Without detailed port rotations, however, it remains be seen how the Ocean Alliance members – CMA CGM, Cosco, OOCL and Evergreen – are planning to respond to Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd’s hub-and-spoke transhipment on east-west trades under their forthcoming Gemini agreement.

At TPM24 last week, Vespucci Maritime’s Lars Jensen suggested that if Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd managed to hit their targeted 90% schedule reliability mark, other carriers may seek to emulate them.

“My expectation is that the Ocean Alliance is likely to go down the same path as Gemini, if it proves a success,” he said.