News highlight week 37

The French liner giant reported net income of just $22.7m for the three months against the $213m reported 12 months earlier. CMA CGM’s bunker bill for the quarter was $852.5m, up 40% on the $613.1m seen a year ago. However, the fleet capacity increased 11.5% to 2.4mteu. Revenue showed a year-on-year increase of 7.4% to $5.7bn, as volumes carried increased by almost 10% to 5.2mteu. 

The Far East-Pakistan- Middle East service jointly operated by Gold Star Line (GSL), KMTC, RCL, SM Line, TS Lines has been suspended after just 10 months in operation. The service was launched in November 2017 and was branded respectively as the ‘China Gulf Ex-press’ (GCX) by GSL, ‘RPM’ by RCL, ‘Asia Paki-stan Middle East (APM) by KMTC, ‘China-Middle EastExpress’ (CMX) by TSL and SML. 

South Korean carrier SM Line and state-controlled Vietnam National Shipping Lines (Vinalines), have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to form a strategic alliance, whereby the two companies will foster cooperation in their container shipping businesses in East Asia. 
     

 Source: Lloyd’s List