News / Wan Hai announces launch of Far East-Mediterranean service

Photo: Wan Hai Lines

Wan Hai Lines continues to expand its service portfolio, yesterday announcing a solo Far East-East Mediterranean service.

The FM1, an upgrade of the Asia-Red Sea 2 service, will launch on 12 September, marking a comeback by the Taiwan carrier in the Mediterranean trade after nearly 20 years.

It will call at Shanghai, Ningbo, Nansha, Shekou, Port Klang, Jeddah, Aqaba, Sokhna, Alexandria, Izmit, Ambarli and Shanghai, offering a 10-week turnaround with 4,300-5,000 teu ships, beginning with the 4,680 teu Wan Hai 513.

Forwarders told The Loadstar they anticipated the offering. An executive at China Master Logistics said demand remained stronger on the Far East-Mediterranean lane, compared with transpacific and Asia-North Europe routes.

He said: “Most of the goods moving from China to the Mediterranean, particularly to Turkey, are mobile phones, other electronic products and textiles.”

China is Turkey’s biggest Asian trading partner and its fifth-largest globally.

Xeneta’s chief analyst, Peter Sand, told The Loadstar that, while the Asia-Mediterranean lane had shown better resilience than other long-haul routes, it brought only limited upside to freight rates.

He said: “Carriers have managed capacity well on the lane, as you can tell from the development of long-term contract rates that are up by 3.5% from a year ago. Still, we expect August to be the peak for long-term rates.”

Last Friday, the Shanghai Containerised Freight Index showed Asia-Mediterranean freight rates at $2,318 per teu, which, although 51% lower year on year, remained higher than Asia-North Europe rates, which averaged $1,961 per teu.

Mr Sand added that 13% of Asia-Mediterranean capacity was from non-alliance operators.

Primarily an intra-Asia carrier, Wan Hai restarted long-haul trades during Covid, with solo transpacific services. In 2022, it introduced an Asia-South America service, making a comeback to that lane after a decade.