News / TP7 omits Ningbo as China port fees force Gemini transpac reshuffle

Photo: VesselFinder

It appears the new China port fees on US-linked vessels have begun to affect westbound backhaul transpacific schedules: the Gemini partners have cancelled calls at Ningbo of two US-flagged containerships

Maersk yesterday advised customers yesterday that its TP7 service, marketed under Gemini as the WC5, would not call at the Chinese hub on the next two sailings, the mainline vessels ending their eastbound voyages at the South Korean port of Busan.

The TP7/WC5 is operated by six vessels with an average capacity of 6,900 teu on a rotation of Los Angeles-Yokohama-Busan-Ningbo.

Hapag-Lloyd’s 6,800 teu Potomac Express arrived in Busan today, and the German carrier said US exports destined for Ningbo would be “discharged in Busan and forwarded to final destination via our existing network”.

Export cargo from Ningbo to the US has instead been loaded on the 8,850 teu Maersk Luz, which is Hong Kong-flagged, and shunted to Busan for the Potomac Express’s next westbound voyage.

The same action will take place with the next vessel in the rotation, the 6,200 teu Maersk Kinloss, which according to its pro forma schedule is set to arrive in Ningbo on 26 October but will instead end its voyage in South Korea on 22 October. Cargo to and from Ningbo will be transhipped there.

“We are making these short-term adjustments to ensure that your supply chains continue to operate as smoothly as possible while we work on longer-term solutions for the WC5 service,” a customer advisory from Hapag-Lloyd said.

According to the eeSea liner database, the vessels on the service all fly the US flag, meaning that the partners will need to replace the entire deployment to avoid a similar $1.7m fee the 4,870 teu Matson Waikiki was charged when it docked in Shanghai on 14 October. Indeed, on the basis of a back-of-the envelope calculation, the WC5 vessels, which have 30%-40% larger cargo capacity, would probably be looking at fees that could reach $2.38m per Ningbo port call.