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A day after its mega merger with Hapag-Lloyd was confirmed, it was back to business as usual for United Arab Shipping Company (UASC).
The Dubai-headquartered carrier, which will take a 24% stake in what is set to become the world’s fifth largest container line alongside Hapag-Lloyd, has announced two new Indian Subcontinent – Europe services, the first to begin on Sunday.
Its IEC1 service rotation, effective 25 July, will be: Djibouti, Port Qasim (Pakistan), Nhava Sheva, Hazira, Mundra (all India), King Abdullah Port (Saudi Arabia), Gioia Tauro (Italy), Tangier (Morocco), Southampton (UK), Rotterdam (The Netherlands), Antwerp (Belgium), Felixstowe (UK), Dunkirk and Le’ Havre (France).
The IEC2 service rotation, effective 24 July, is: Khorfakkan (Sharjah, UAE), Jebel Ali (Dubai), Port Qasim, Nhava Sheva, Mundra, Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), Cagliari (Italy), Tangier, Hamburg (Germany), Antwerp and London Gateway (UK).
The new, fixed day services will replace UASC’s existing IEC1 service to “better align with our customer’s needs.
Pending regulatory and contractual approvals, the Hapag-Lloyd-UASC merger is expected to be completed by the end of 2016. Structure and branding negotiations continue after yesterday’s unveiling of a Business Combination Agreement (BCA) and separate Shareholders Support Agreement (SSA).
Until then, both companies will continue to operate as stand-alone companies, each operating in its own alliance as currently structured until the end of March 2017. UASC is currently a member of the Ocean Three alliance with CMA CGM and China Shipping Container Lines.
From April 2017 the combined Hapag-Lloyd-UASC entity will enter service as part of the new ‘THE Alliance’, consisting of Hanjin, Hapag-Lloyd, K-Line, Mitsui OSK Lines, Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) and Yang Ming.
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