News / ONE quits Indamex network to offer standalone India-US east coast service

Photo: ONE

Japanese container carrier ONE is to exit the Indamex (India-North America) vessel sharing consortium jointly operated with Hapag-Lloyd, CMA CGM and Cosco.

Indamex – featuring two loops – has been a market share leader on the India-US east coast trade lane.

The termination follows the Singapore-headquartered line opening its standalone service connecting three western India ports – Nhava Sheva, Hazira and Mundra – to the US east coast from this month, known as WIN.

ONE previously marketed the two joint services as IEX [India-East Coast Express] and IE2 [India-East Coast Express 2]. With its exit, the last ONE sailings under the partnership will be the Athenian for IEX, scheduled to arrive in Nhava Sheva Port on 26 May, and the Tucapel on the IE2, although its berthing date at Nhava Sheva has yet to be declared.

The carrier has advised customers to plan their shipments accordingly, while adding that any containers left behind by these two sailings would be loaded onto the next available WIN vessel.

“Any bookings ex-Nhava Sheva and Mundra after the voyages under the IEX and IE2 services will be honoured on the WIN service only,” it noted.

WIN has a port rotation of Bin Qasim (Karachi)-Hazira-Nhava Sheva-Mundra-Damietta-Algeciras-New York-Savannah-Jacksonville-Charleston-Norfolk-Damietta-Jeddah-Bin Qasim.

The Indamex network has fewer ports of call: Port Qasim-Nhava Sheva-Mundra-New York-Norfolk for Loop 1; and Port Qasim-Nhava Sheva-Mundra-Norfolk-Charleston-Savannah for Loop 2, according to the eeSea liner database, which also shows both loops now sailing via the Cape of Good Hope.

According to the database, ONE is currently provisioned with 20% of the IEX capacity and deploys two out of the 10 vessels that operate the string, while on the IE2 service it is a slot charterer and provisioned with 10% capacity.

The carrier has significantly expanded its networks out of India in the last few years, aiming to grab a slice of the emerging economy that industry analysts and forecasters see as a potential sourcing alternative to China amid the trade diversification in Asia.

The line already offers multiple weekly sailings to/from the east and west coasts of India, for key global trade lanes, such as Asia, the Middle East and Europe.

“The recent launch of our new services – the West India North America (WIN), Indian Ocean Mediterranean (IOM), Southeast Asia India Gulf (SIG), Red Sea Gulf India (RGI), Northeast Asia-Pakistan India (NPI) and China India Pakistan (CIP) service – demonstrates ONE’s ongoing commitment to providing our customers with superior, reliable, and comprehensive service solutions in India,” said managing director Yu Kurimoto in a recent statement.

“We are continuously seeking innovative ways to enhance our offerings in this important region,” Mr Kurimoto added.

Indeed, the Red Sea crisis has altered the dynamics of container shipping network configurations, as carriers have had to deploy extra tonnage to keep their schedules as seamless as possible in the context of longer transits around the Cape of Good Hope.

Industry observers also expect further capacity and network readjustments as the crisis lingers.

You can reach the writer at [email protected].