In what could be one of the shortest service suspensions in shipping history, Zim is set to restart its ZX2 transpacific express service later this week.
Running a Shanghai-Ningbo-Los Angeles-Shanghai rotation on a 35-day voyage round-trip, the ZX2 was suspended after the 5,500 teu Mississippi departed Los Angeles on 22 April. The vessel was then transferred to Zim’s ZEX transpacific service, which has a port rotation of Cai Mep-Yantian-Long Beach-Cai Mep.
Previous iterations of the ZX2 service saw five 5,500 teu ships deployed.
However, one change from the previous ZX2 is that Zim has inserted a call at Xiamen prior to Shanghai, and according to Zim’s schedules, the service will relaunch with the departure of 5,500 teu Colorado, from Xiamen on 23 May.
In an interview following yesterday’s first-quarter results announcement, Zim chief financial officer Xavier Destriau described how difficult it had become for carriers to judge the trade’s capacity requirements.
“Not so long ago, we were talking about the risk of empty shelves – however, when we looked at inventory levels, the last five to six week period has had little meaningful impact.
“But that was potentially in jeopardy. And the surge in volumes was to be expected when an opportunity to replenish showed itself so as to avoid punitive tariffs – everyone is taking advantage of this opportunity,” he said, although he subsequently cautioned that
“Does this mean the scare is behind us, I think the answer is ‘no’.”
“When the 90 days end, where will we end up being? The surge in present volumes could be a peak but the sustainability of this volume surge is a very big question mark,” he said.
Nonetheless, it appears confident enough in short-term demand.
“Of particular note is the fact that Zim has reinstated the service in its entirety, with no scheduled blanks anticipated over the next two months,” said John Kingori, operations manager at the eeSea liner database.
The carrier was also confident that short term rates will be strong, and it has a $2,000 per 40ft general rate increase (GRI) planned for 1 June implementation.
“We have announced a rate increase for Asia-US, with the rate uptick very likely for rate improvement,” Mr Destriau added.
“The minute we end up in a more stable situation, whatever the prevailing tariff will be depends on dynamic.”
