Ports

Maersk Loses Partners on Asia-South America Route as Alliance Realignment Accelerates

Maersk has lost both partners on its Asia-East Coast South America services within three months, triggering a redrawing of carrier alliances on the traditionally fluid trade route. Zim departed Maersk's ASAS loop in September to launch the AS3/ZFS service with Hapag-Lloyd. CMA CGM will end its joint ASAS2/SEAS3 partnership with Maersk, with the final sailing departing Shanghai on December 8. CMA CGM is relaunching its SEAS 2 and SEAS A loops days later with a restructured lineup. Ocean Alliance is consolidating around CMA CGM, Cosco, OOCL and Evergreen, while PIL and Yang Ming exit those services. Yang Ming will operate on the SX2 loop with ONE and HMM. Maersk assumes sole operator status on ASAS, with Hapag-Lloyd purchasing slot capacity. Industry observers expect the December changes will formalize alliance structures on ECSA, a route historically characterized by carrier flexibility.