News Highlights week: 28 - 2022

SITC at the start of this month introduced a weekly China - Russian Far East - Northern Vietnam ‘CRV’ service, which partially replaces two services that the carrier then suspended. 
One of the now suspended loops is the ‘CRS1’. Launched last December, the loop used to offer one or two sailings per month between Shanghai, Lianyungang, Rizhao, Qingdao, Hakata, Busan, Vladivostok (Sollers + VCT) and Shanghai. The ‘CRS1’ was operated with the 1,039 teu HF FORTUNE. 

Another service suspended by the Chinese operator is the ‘SKT6’ which covered Shanghai, Nagoya, Yokkaichi, Tokyo, Sendai, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Qinzhou, Haiphong, Shanghai. The loop turned in three weeks with three ships of 900 - 1,000 teu. 
The new ‘CRV’ supersedes the China - Russian Far East segment of the ‘CRS1’ and the China - Northern Vietnam leg of the ‘SKT6’. It turns in four weeks with four SITC ships of 1,000 – 1,800 TEU. The service calls at Shanghai, Qingdao, Vladivostok (VCT), Vostochny, Xingang, Qingdao, Shanghai, Haiphong, Shekou, Shanghai. 
With the introduction of the 'CRV', launched on 2 July when the 1,150 teu SITC RIZHAO departed from Shanghai, SITC now offers a direct call at Vostochny and provides weekly sailings between Russian Far East and Northern Vietnam.
However, the carrier no longer offers a direct link between Japan, South Korea and Russian Far East.
Evergreen takes delivery of the EVER APEX (24,004 teu) 
China’s CSSC Group this week formally delivered the jumbo container vessel EVER APEX to Evergreen. The new ship is the second of nine conventionally-powered and scrubber-fitted megamaxes that the CSSC sister yards of Hudong-Zhonghua and Jiangnan Shipyard will build for the Taiwanese ocean carrier. 
With a nominal box intake of 24,004 teu, the brand new EVER APEX, the series’ lead ship EVER ALOT and their upcoming sisters will be the largest container ships in the world. 

Ship number one of the series was built by Hudong-Zhonghua’s subsidiary Jiangnan Changxing Shipyard, whereas the new EVER APEX originates from the neighbouring Jiangnan Shipyard. 
The vessels are 399.90 m long and 61.50 m (24 rows) wide. They are powered by WinGD - 11X92B main engines that are rated at 58,600 kW and drive the ships at speeds of up to 22.5 knots. Six generator sets provide 22,100 kW of electricity for up to 1,500 reefer containers. The ships of this new megamax vessel class were designed in-house by Hudong-Zhonghua. 
The new EVER APEX will soon join the OCEAN Alliance Asia - Europe loop ’NEU6’, aka Evergreen ‘CEM’. Eventually, Evergreen plans to deploy a homogenous fleet of 13 latest-generation megamax vessels on this loop.
These will include six Samsung-built 23,992 teu ships of the ‘Ever Ace’ class and nine of the marginally bigger ‘Ever Apex’ types. 
Two more ships of the design, the EVER ATOP and EVER ARIA, are still scheduled for delivery this year, with five more sisters due from 2023 to 2025。
COSCO expected to report USD 14 bn in EBIT for H1 
COSCO Shipping, currently the fourth largest carrier by capacity, expects to report a group net profit of RMB 64.7 bn (USD 9.6 bn) for the first half of the year, a 74% increase on the same period in 2021. 
The Hong Kong-listed company reported even more striking forecasts for operating profits (EBIT) which it says should reach RMB 95.2 bn (USD 14.1 bn), a 92% increase year-on-year, despite the China Containerized Freight Index (CCFI) rising only 59% in the same period. 

The extraordinary earnings reflect the surge in contract rates seen since the start of the year which have offset the drop in spot rates in the same period. The half-year result indicates that COSCO’s group EBIT rose from RMB 39.3 bn in the first quarter to RMB 55.9 bn in the second, an increase of 40%. 
The Chinese carrier, whose results incorporate those of subsidiary OOCL, has performed somewhat differently to many of its peers during the pandemic - see left. However, the USD 14 bn expected for the first half of this year already represents more than 70% of the total logged for the whole of 2021.