Grand Alliance merges JCX and SCX services into one loop [Container Shipping]

Grand Alliance members Hapag-Lloyd, Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) and Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) have agreed to merge the SCX (South China Sea Express) and the JCX (Japan China Express) into a single loop. The new service will take effect from May 25, 2009, sailing from Thailand. Grand Alliance customers will be offered the same port coverage options under the new service. One additional vessel of 6,200 TEU will be added on the SCX service, and Japanese ports previously covered on the JCX will be covered by the upgraded SCX service.

Kaohsiung will be transferred to the Super Shuttle Express (SSX) service on the Trans-Pacific eastbound call, while the westbound call on SCX will remain unchanged.

Port rotation for both services is as follows: SCX: Laem Chabang/ Singapore/ Kobe/ Nagoya/ Tokyo/ Sendai/ Los Angeles/ Oakland/ Tokyo/ Nagoya/ Kobe/ Kaohsiung/ Shekou/ Laem Chabang SSX: Shekou/ Yantian/ Hong Kong/ Kaohsiung/ Long Beach/ Kaohsiung/ Xiamen/ Hong Kong/ Shekou. The merged ‘SCX’ product will allow the Grand Alliance to continue offering our customers the competitive and high quality service they are used to.

The Grand Alliance, formed in 1998, is the leading integrated consortium in global container shipping. Its members are presently Hapag-Lloyd (Germany), MISC Berhad (Malaysia), NYK (Japan) and OOCL (Hong Kong). MISC Berhad does not operate on this trade and therefore has not participated in this particular agreement.

This is one way carriers are adapting to the plunge in international shipping. "Services" are much like bus routes. A bus stops at known points along a route to pick up and drop off passengers. This alliance of carriers has combined two services, but only seems to have transferred one ship from the discontinued service into the expanded SCX service. The SCX service route has almost now doubled in size. While largely transparent to customers, it does effect them in a couple of ways. For some port combinations, it may take considerably longer to ship cargo, because the ships are travelling to more ports in between. And the schedule for shipping cargo will be streched out, leaving longer times bewteen one departure at a certain port and the next departure.

Old JCX

LOS ANGELES
OAKLAND
NAGOYA(JAPAN)
KOBE(JAPAN)
SHANGHAI(PEOPLES REP. of CHINA)
TOKYO(JAPAN)
SENDAI(JAPAN)

Old SCX
LOS ANGELES
OAKLAND
TOKYO(JAPAN)
KAOHSIUNG(TAIWAN)
SHEKOU(PEOPLES REP. of CHINA)
LAEM CHABANG(THAILAND)
SINGAPORE(SINGAPORE)

New SCX

LAEM CHABANG(THAILAND)
SINGAPORE(SINGAPORE)
KOBE(JAPAN)
NAGOYA(JAPAN)
TOKYO(JAPAN)
SENDAI(JAPAN)
LOS ANGELES
OAKLAND
TOKYO(JAPAN)
NAGOYA(JAPAN)
KOBE(JAPAN)
KAOHSIUNG(TAIWAN)
SHEKOU(PEOPLES REP. of CHINA)
LAEM CHABANG(THAILAND)

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