THE over-tonnaged Fremantle-South East Asia route is set for rationalization, with ANL, COSCO SL and subsidiary OOCL to mount a new joint service.

The carriers will combine their respective three-ship AAX-W and two-ship ASAX/AWX services, mostly maintained by 1,800 TEU vessels, with a single operation featuring three of up to 4,300 TEU, one supplied by ANL and two by COSCO/OOCL.

The new service, which will retain the individual carrier designations, will operate on a weekly rotation of Singapore, Fremantle, Port Klang, Singapore with the first sailing by the 4,334 TEU Singapore scheduled for February 28 from Port Klang and Singapore March1, with inaugural arrival Fremantle March 8.

The second vessel will be the 3,459 TEU Express Black Sea while the third is listed as one of ANL's existing AAX-W ships, the 1,809 TEU Green Wave, but this is expected to be replaced by a larger vessel for the April 1 position.

In a notice to trade OOCL said the change to AWX was in response to customer feedback on the importance of schedule integrity and a request for greater port coverage: "As a quality carrier that is proud of our continuous focus on sustainability, OOCL are pleased to advise that the upgrade of the AWX service will benefit the environment through a substantial reduction of emissions for the same TEU capacity," the line said.

ASAX/AWX was launched as a peak-season Fremantle-Singapore shuttle in mid-September 2020 but made permanent the following year. AAX-W launched in March 2023 following a major shake-up of several SE Asia-Australia services.

The route is covered by a number of other services, including MSC's Capricorn (southbound), the MSC/CMA CGM AES/NEMO (northbound), the Maersk/Hapag-Lloyd/ONE WAC/AU2/WAU, ANL/Hapag-Lloyd/Maersk/ONE's AAX-S/GAC/SAL/AU1, and the Triple A consortium (Cosco SL, OOCL, PIL)'s AAA2 loop, reports Australia's Daily Cargo News.