News Highlights week: 26 - 2022

At the same time, the Hong Kong-based operator will also overhaul its ‘Bangladesh Thailand service’ (‘BTS’) which it had launched as recently as April. The ’BTS’ is a fortnightly service covering Thailand, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Eastern India and Sri Lanka. 

The new ‘CHX’ will turn in two weeks using two ships, the 957 teu CONTSHIP PEP and the 1,049 teu ASIATIC PRIDE. It calls at Shanghai, Ningbo, Haiphong, Xiamen, Shanghai. The maiden voyage of the upcoming ‘CHX’ is scheduled on 7 July ex Ningbo with the CONTSHIP PEP. 
As of 2 July, GSL’s revised ‘BTS’ service will no longer call at Chittagong in Bangladesh, Chennai in Eastern India and Colombo in Sri Lanka. Instead, the service will be extended to South China and Northern Vietnam while maintaining the Malaysia and Thailand calls. 
The modified service will turn every 17 days using a single ship of 1,048 teu, the current SINAR BANGKA. The ship will follow a new rotation and call at Dachan Bay, Laem Chabang, Port Kelang, Haiphong, Qinzhou, Dachan Bay. 
With the new ‘BTS’ setup, GSL no longer offers a direct call at Chenna. The carrier however still serves Kattupalli, a satellite port located about 30 km north of Chennai, with its ‘IVX’ service. This loop covers South China, Northern Vietnam, Malaysia and Eastern India. 
Gold Star Line meanwhile still offers weekly calls at Chittagong with its ‘Chittagong Malaysia Express’ (‘CMX’) which began to include Northern Vietnam and South China in its itinerary in November 2021. GSL continues to call at Colombo with multiple services. 
GSL and RCL reshuffle Vietnam-Malaysia service by including Indonesia 
Gold Star Line (GSL) and Regional Container Line (RCL) have last week reshuffled their Vietnam - Malaysia service marketed as 'VMS' and 'RHS3' respectively. 

As of 19 June, the ‘VMS’ has extended its port calls to Jakarta, the main port in Indonesia, at the expense of Singapore. The service rotation became a butterfly loop which centers on Port.
Kelang with one loop serving Ho Chi Minh City in Southern Vietnam while the other loop calls at Jakarta. As a result of this revision, the ‘VMS’ service now turns in two weeks compared to the previous one week. GSL deploys the 1,288 teu YANTRA BHUM while RCL operates the 1,118 teu IRIS MIKO providing weekly sailings on the service. 
Besides the direct link between Jakarta and Ho Chi Minh City, the revised ‘VMS’ also provides weekly feeder connections to the two main Southeast Asian ports. For RCL, the altered 'VMS' adds to its current ‘RMI1’, offered through slots on COSCO’s Malaysia-Indonesia ‘GMI’ feeder service.
SM Group increases stake in HMM above 5%
South Korea’s SM Group, comprising the container carrier SM Line, bought more shares in compatriot line HMM, fuelling speculation once again of potential merger or acquisition involving the two companies.
In a filing with South Korea’s financial su- pervisory authority, SM confirmed it now owned 5.52% of HMM. The stake is held through SM Line and related affiliates.

The purchases make the group the third largest shareholder after state entities Ko- rea Development Bank and Korea Ocean Business Corporation, with 20.69% and 19.96% respectively.
SM has denied it has any ambitions to take over HMM, describing its share purchases as an investment. HMM’s stock closed on Tuesday night at KRW 26,100, nearly 50% off its 52-week high of KRW 48,850 reported in June 2021.
The Korean government, which took majori- ty control of the company in 2016, initially announced it would find a buyer for HMM by Q1 2022. However it later backtracked, saying it would wait for the carrier to fully establish itself financially before finding a buyer. SM Line for its part was forced to pull an expansion-driven IPO in November 2021 for lack of investor interest.