Israeli ocean carrier Zim has finally axed its monthly ad-hoc sailings from Asia to North Europe, according to a report from Alphaliner, ending the restructured container line’s presence in the trade.
Severe losses, much attributed to the highly-competitive Asia-North Europe tradelane, obliged the ‘new’ Zim to suspend its liner service last April and terminate its slot charter arrangement with CSCL on the Chinese carrier’s AEX1 loop.
But, since June, Zim has been offering a ‘rogue’ sailing to North European ports every four to six weeks, using ships of between 4,600 and 10,000 teu that would otherwise have been idled.
Anecdotal reports suggest that Zim was pitching the most competitive rates in the market, perhaps unsurprisingly due to the ad-hoc nature of the service offered, and the carrier was obviously hitherto receiving enough support at a freight level.