A3 group confirms new express service

THE A3 consortium, comprising ANL, COSCO Shipping and OOCL has today officially announced the launch of a peak-season express service from China to Australia.

The weekly operation will kick off in Qingdao on 27 July with the departure of the 3,338 TEU Colombo which will follow a rotation of Qingdao, Shanghai, Shekou, Melbourne, Port Botany, Qingdao.

Rumours of the new service began circulating soon after Maersk announced its Qilin service on 22 May, due to get underway 24 July on a limited rotation of Shanghai, Port Botany, Melbourne, Shanghai with five 2,500-3,500 TEU vessels.

While Qilin is positioned as complementing Maersk’s weekly Dragon service (operated with ONE), A3 members say the addition of A3X will mean the consortium will have the “most comprehensive port coverage to and from North East Asia.

“The ACX service complements the existing Asia Australia A3 product, delivering weekly double calls at Qingdao and Shekou, and triple calls at Shanghai,” ANL says, while OOCL notes the advent of A3X means it now has four weekly sailings across the A3 network.

“This expansion of the A3 network supports our customers’ growth with additional capacity timed to the traditional peak season of the China–Australia trade,” ANL said. OOCL added it was “providing customers with greater flexibility, improved transit options, and expanded market access”.

For its part COSCO Shipping highlighted faster transit times: Shekou–Melbourne to 14 days, and Sydney-Qingdao to 15 days; and a stronger network: “The A3X service complements existing JKN (Brisbane express) and A3C/A3S (Sydney express) services, further strengthening COSCO Shipping’s network between Northeast Asia and Australia.”

Overall, A3X promises transits of 21 days Qingdao-Melbourne, 18 days from Shanghai and 14 days from Shekou, while Qingdao-Sydney will be 24 days, Shanghai 21 days and Shekou 17 days.

In the reverse direction, Melbourne-Qingdao will be 19 days, Shanghai 22 days and Shekou 26 days. From Sydney, it will be Qingdao in 15 days, Shanghai 18 days and Shekou 22 days.

Earlier, Maersk stressed the increased capacity and faster transits Qilin will bring, with Shanghai-Sydney 14 days, Shanghai-Melbourne 17 days, Sydney-Shanghai 19 days and Melbourne-Shanghai 15 days. This compares to Dragon’s 18, 21, 28 and 24 days respectively.

ANL has already scheduled two extra-loaders on its own account, with the 5,085 TEU Fos Express currently sailing Ningbo, Shekou, Sydney, Melbourne while repositioning for Hapag-Lloyd to the ANZ-WCNA route, while the 3,500 TEU CMA CGM Fort Saint Charles is listed for Ningo, Shanghai, Shekou, Sydney (29 July).