Opportunistic Chinese shipowner BAL Container Line is making a selective comeback to the transpacific trade, after exiting liner shipping to focus on being a tonnage provider.
According to container shipping consultancy Linerlytica, BAL has postponed chartering its new 14,400 teu BAL Athena to Maersk Line for the Gemini Asia-North Europe AE3 service.
Instead, BAL will deploy the vessel on an ad hoc China-US West Coast service, from 24 July, calling at Ningbo, Shanghai, Long Beach, and Shanghai, to take advantage of booming transpacific spot rates.
Maersk is expected to take on the BAL Athena once it completes its transpacific stint in early September.
BAL, which previously operated a standalone China-Mexico service, stopped its independent liner operation in January 2023, when rates began normalising after the Covid-induced boom.
On 3 June, LC Logistics, BAL’s intermediate holding company, said in a Hong Kong Stock Exchange filing it had sold BAL Athena to China Development Bank Financial Leasing ,under a sale-and-leaseback transaction. It was one of two ships BAL ordered in June 2024; the other being sold to MSC in December for $170m, BAL realising a $25m profit.
On Friday, the Shanghai Containerised Freight index showed the Shanghai-US West Coast rate had risen 9% from 26 June, to $6,630 per 40ft. The Shanghai-US East Coast rate gained 12%, to $8,296 per 40ft.
However, Linerlytica said the SCFI figures did not reflect the real-time picture, adding:Â âTranspacific rates remain very firm, with carriers able to hold their 1 July GRIs.
âSpot rates to the US west coast have soared above $7,000 per 40 ft while rates to the US east coast have risen to over $8,600, with the SCFI yet to reflect these higher rates,â the analyst said.
The early peak season has seen Shanghai-US West Coast rates surge fourfold from about $1,800 per 40ft in February.
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