MSC confirmed on the 28th that MSC will “take certain measures” to rebalance its capacity, starting with the suspension of a complete route service, as the demand from the United States and the West from China has “reduced significantly”.

The major ocean carriers have so far been cutting capacity through an “air-to-air” strategy, but the rapidly deteriorating demand outlook over the past few weeks has forced major carriers to consider service cuts.

MSC said it would immediately “suspend” its transpacific to West America service SEQUOIA, which operates within the 2M alliance with Maersk’s TP3 service, which will be merged into 2M’s Jaguar/TP2 service.

In order to strengthen the service network of the Pan-Pacific route, MSC MSC launched the sixth non-stop SEQUOIA/TP3 service to the Americas and West in December 2016, to supplement 2M’s other five services on this route. According to the eeSea liner database, the loop deploys 11,000 TEU ships between Ningbo, Shanghai and Los Angeles, and has signed a 10% space lease agreement with South Korea’s SM Line.

Due to the slump in spot freight rates in the market, following last week’s cancellation of its seasonal route China-California Express (CCX) by Matson Shipping, China United Shipping (CU Lines) and Shanghai Jinjiang Shipping suspended the jointly operated TPX service, CMA CGM (CMA CGM) also closed the “Golden Gate Bridge” (GGB) service on the direct US-Western service, MSC is the latest shipping company to be disclosed to cancel the closure of the entire route.