Cosco Shipping Lines announced the Ocean Alliance Day 8 for 2024, encompassing 37 container shipping services, including the addition of three transatlantic loops outside the Ocean Alliance (Non-OA). This initiative aims to contribute to the stability of the global supply chain, with the program set to commence in April 2024, involving around 355 vessels offering a total capacity of approximately 4.82 million TEUs.
The services range from Far East-North Europe links to Mediterranean, Trans-Pacific, Trans-Atlantic, Middle East, and Red Sea services, aiming to ensure optimized transit times and extensive port coverage. Far East-North Europe services will focus on direct calls to European ports to ensure optimized transit times, shifting volumes and Mediterranean-originating ports to the Day 8 Asia-Mediterranean.
There will be four Asia-Mediterranean services, two of which will concentrate on the Western Mediterranean to provide tailored services for calls in Italy and Spain, while the other two will cover Greece, Turkey, and the Adriatic Sea, offering coverage of approximately a hundred pairs of direct ports. Starting in May 2024, the Day 8 Trans-Pacific services will offer twenty routes, including eight for the South-West Pacific, four for the North-West Pacific, and eight for the East Coast of North America and the Gulf of the United States, with around 160 pairs of direct ports. This consolidation of services between China and North America aims to enhance the network on the East Coast and in the Gulf.
The five Trans-Atlantic services will ensure direct connections between major ports in North Europe, the Mediterranean, the United States, and Mexico, totaling 105 pairs of ports. Additionally, the three Far East-Middle East and two Far East-Red Sea services will offer rapid connections, leveraging transshipment hub advantages like Abu Dhabi and ensuring regular departures with the use of 20,000 TEU container ships.
In this context, Italy will be served by the Asia-Mediterranean service: Aem 1 will call at La Spezia and Genoa, and Aem 6 will call at Trieste. Moreover, on the transatlantic routes, the Non-OA Mena service will call at Livorno and Genoa, the Ema service will call at La Spezia, and the Mdgx service will call at La Spezia and Genoa.
