New alliance service networks for Asia-East Coast North America favor the Panama Canal routeing ahead of the Suez Canal, according to Drewry. … The expansion of the Panama Canal at the end of June has been a game changer. Several Asia-ECNA via Panama loops have been upgraded to deploy ships of 8,000 TEU and above. Following the expansion the average size of ship deployed on the route has increased by 44% to 6,600 TEU.
In time, possibly as soon as April next year, that figure will surpass the size of ships on the Suez route. There are now seven Panama Canal services which contain ships of 8,000 TEU or more with the biggest found on the G6 Alliance’s NYX, which uses 10 x 10,000 TEU units. With fewer Suez services in the network from 2Q17 carriers will be able to go bigger on the new Panama loops, without risking lower ship utilization.
