ALPHALINER Liner Services - AXSMarine

ALPHALINER 

Liner Services 

Alphaliner 

Guide on Liner Services 

The Alphaliner website includes as far as possible all the international container 

services, feeder services and significant domestic (cabotage) services. The major 

breakbulk and general purpose roro services are also listed. 

For the purpose of this website, the expression "liner trades" covers every liner service in the 

common acceptance of the term. Given this common acceptance, are excluded a number of specific, 

more or less regular services such as parcel trades (steel and other neo-bulk products), pure forest 

product trades, pure vehicle carrying services, ferry services and very small scale coastal services. 

Alphaliner is an independent research company providing ship data, service data, information, news 

and statistics. This data is hosted and marketed by AXSMarine. 

This document is for the private use of AXS-Alphaliner subscribers and must not be reproduced in whole or in part 

in any form. General Alphaliner and AXS-Alphaliner user terms and conditions apply to this document.

ALPHALINER – Liner Services Guide – 

The worldwide reference in liner shipping 

The Alphaliner website allows an easy and quick access to every liner service of importance 

worldwide, including regional and feeder services. 

Each service is attributed a unique reference number that we call the 'S Code'. 

The ‘S Code’ is a very convenient way to refer to well identified services and is indeed used 

by subscribers who want to exchange information. It allows avoiding ambiguities and 

confusions. 

Each service is provided with the following information : 

- Service code number (S Code) - cross indexed with the ship register 

- Name of service / Alliance / Route – Alternative names if any 

- Partners : ship providers and slot takers (if any) 

- Nature of the service (Full container, breakbulk etc.) 

- Geographical coverage 

- Duration of rotation (in days) 

- Frequency of sailings 

- Number and size range of ships used 

- Rotation and significant transhipment options 

- Historical data and other comments (with links to longer developments) 

- List of ships deployed with basic characteristics, with link to the ship data sheet 

- Average weekly / annual capacity if relevant 

These services are arranged in geographical order in the TRADES section, starting with the 

east-west services and then the various north-south and regional services. 

These services are systematically repeated under the operators headings in the 

OPERATORS Section. 

Some ways of how to find and read the information are detailed hereunder. 

You can display service details from different places : 

• from the LIST OF TRADES 

• from an OPERATOR LIST OF SERVICES 

• from a SHIP DATASHEET (by clicking on the 'Route' item) 

• from a SERVICE DATA SHEET (links are provided to connecting services) 

• from a NEWS ITEM (by clicking on the relevant link) 

• from a PORT search 

• from typing the usual name of a service in the relevant box (Examples : Med Andes, SLCS, AEX, CIX etc.) 

• from typing the S Code a service in the relevant box 

• from typing either the usual name of a service or its S Code in the General searchbox (top right corner) 

It is recalled that the S Code (four or five digit figure) gives you an instant access to a service you want to 

consult regularly, without any ambiguity. 

New services and major changes are reported in our DAILY NEWS. A search driver is 

associated to the DAILY NEWS section in order to browse the ARCHIVES. 

IMPORTANT : Empty your Internet browser cache-memory and click on 'Refresh' in order to get the latest data 

Alphaliner - Trades & Services - 2 © Alphaliner 1999-2009



Note on multitrade services 

The LIST OF TRADES offers several geographical sub sections (trade lanes). In the case of multitrade 

services, such as Round The World or Pendulum services, they are repeated in every relevant Trade section, 

but only ports served within the geographical coverage are shown. The regions outside this coverage being 

indicated as such: …(Europe)…, …(East Asia)…, …(ANZ)… etc. 

The full description (showing the full port coverage) of multitrade services is shown under the ‘Multitrade 

Services Overview’ item, at the bottom of the SERVICES page. 

Note on the ‘S Code’ 

When a multitrade service is shown several times under different geographical sections (trade lanes), the S 

Code remains naturally the same, even if the description of the rotation and transhipment options vary, 

according to the trade lane considered. 

Abbreviations used to identify the nature of the service 

FC - full container service 

CB - container / breakbulk service 

CR - container / roro service 

RR - roro service only 

CBR - container / breakbulk / roro service 

BB - breakbulk service only 

CB/P - container / breakbulk + reefer pallets 

SEARCHING SERVICES BY PORTS OF CALL 

A search driver by ports of call is provided. 800 ports are listed, down to ports fitted only with 

a single conventional wharf. 

In a number of cases, links offered by transhipment are shown. By default, the search is 

done on direct calls only. Should you wish to include ports served via transhipment, click 

in the relevant box. 

Caution – When selecting the transhipment options, the search is made only on essential ports served by 

transhipment in specific cases where a particular main line connects with a specific feeder service, or a bundle 

of feeder services, and vice versa. For arterial east-west services and a number of north-south main services, 

transhipment possibilities are so numerous (covering a whole continent at each end) that there is no point to 

list them. 

Apart from the direct / transhipment choice, there are two ways of using this search driver. 

1 – Ask for both port of origin and port of destination 

A list of services linking the two ports considered will be displayed, including main transhipment 

possibilities if this option is selected. 

2 – Ask for one port only 

A list of services calling at this port will be displayed, including main transhipment possibilities if this 

option is selected. 

The second option is particularly useful in case you are looking to carry cargoes between 

two remote ports. Thus, should you want to carry a cargo between places as exotic as 

Funafuti, in the South Pacific, and Qaqortok, in Greenland (everything is possible !), make a 

first search on 'Funafuti' and note the result. Once it has been done, do the same with 

‘Qaqortok’. Then, you can contact the operators calling at either Funafuti or Qaqortok to 




know what can be done. In this example, they are niche operators that can organize the 

transport thanks to connecting carrier agreements. 

The reason why we do not track directly possible connections between ports such as 

Funafuti and Qaqortok is that there are so numerous possibilities of transhipment that it can 

be only assessed on a case by case basis (and it is also the way carriers do it if you try to 

ask for such connections in their websites). The same applies for example to links such as 

‘Helsinki-Ho Chi Min City’ or ‘Puerto Cabello-Tunis’. See also the Tips below. 

DO NOT FORGET TO HIT THE "CLEAR" BUTTON BEFORE STARTING A NEW SEARCH 

Ports groupings 

For an efficient use of this port to port search driver, some ports have been linked to neighbouring ports : 

- Los Angeles and Long Beach (look Los Angeles) 

- San Francisco and Oakland (look San Francisco) 

- Miami and Port Everglades (look Miami) 

- UAE hubs : Khor Fakkan, Fujairah, Dubai (Port Rashid and Jebel Ali), Abu Dhabi (look UAE) 

- Shenzhen area : Chiwan, Shekou, Yantian, Dachan Bay (look Shenzhen) 

- Bangkok and Laem Chabang (look Bangkok) 

- Marseille and Fos (look Marseille) 

Tips to find the Service or Operator answering your needs 

Large operators serve hundreds of ports. In this case, it leads to thousands of possible 

combinations for a single operator. There are well over a million combinations for the 20 

largest lines together. 

To complicate the matter, a majority of pairs of ports are not linked by a single service. 

There is often a combination of a main service and feeder or relay services. To achieve a 

port-to-port efficient search, the system would have to display the succession of services 

involved. Although nothing is technically impossible, it is not manageable given the large 

number of possible combinations and the options that vary from one carrier to another, even 

when they are tied in alliances and service agreements. 

Should this be done, it would not solve all problems because the combination of services 

physically used by a given operator can vary with the day of the week. This multiplies the 

possible combinations for a port-to-port search. Furthermore, a number of regional carriers 

offer a vast array of worldwide destinations from the local ports they serve, acting as 

NVOCCs on intercontinental lines. Thus, tiny operators can offer port combinations by the 

hundreds. 

Taking all this into account, an efficient port-to-port search driver working on a worldwide 

scale requires the compilation of so many combinations that it is not indeed manageable. 

Even single operators offering on their website such drivers for their own lines have to make 

compromises, hence the display of the following message : 'Please contact your nearest 

agent'. 

If you want to know the possibilities offered between two given ports, you have the choice 

between two ways : 

1 - The two ports are main ports served by main lines : you can select the name of both 

ports. Thus, selecting 'Singapore' and 'Le Havre' will display all the services linking directly 

these two ports (or by transhipment in some cases, if you tick this option). This method can 

also be effective to know what services link two regional ports, such as Hamburg and 

Helsinki for example. 




2 - One of the two ports, or both, are not served by main lines. Thus you want to ship a 

container of goods from Helsinki to Ho Chi Minh City. 

> Step 1 : select 'Helsinki' to know which physical regional services call there, connecting with which hub. 

> Step 2 : repeat the same with 'Ho Chi Minh City'. 

> Step 3 : you can select main lines operating trunk services between hubs, say, Hamburg and Singapore, or 

Rotterdam and Hong Kong. Alternatively, you can click the 'Europe / Far East' item in the LIST OF TRADES 

(down in the same page) to display all the Europe-Far East services offered. 

In most cases, the lines may offer the Helsinki-Ho Chi Minh City under one through bill of 

lading, arranging the organisation of the whole voyage, including the feedering on one of the 

services displayed at steps 1 and 2. You may also ask to the regional carriers to organise 

the shipment. Some of them offer global shipments as NVOCCs on main lines, or have 

connecting carrier agreements with selected main carriers. 

In a number of cases, services by transhipment are displayed, thus speeding up the 

selection process. These have been compiled only for particular transhipment liaisons 

(specific cases or services of niche operators) and when no more than one transhipment is 

involved. 

PROFILE AND SERVICES OF OPERATORS 

Alphaliner provides a short background of operators and sums up their development. These 

sections are updated as needed. 

Recent news are grouped immediately under these backgrounds and developments or 

under the head of a geographical section if relevant. These news are kept as such a few 

months before being integrated in the Background / Development items. 

Alphaliner displays all the liner services of the selected OPERATOR. These services are 

ranked geographically, starting with multitrade services (if any) and east-west lines. For the 

sake of exhaustivity, strings of multitrade services are also shown (duplication) under the 

relevant geographical sections. 

The service descriptions have been compiled and are kept updated with the utmost 

care. However, errors or obsolete data are unavoidable. Do not hesitate to contact us 

in this respect. 

The AXS-Alphaliner website is a joint production of Alphaliner, a leading data and information provider in the 

liner shipping field, and of AXSMarine, a marine software provider. 

Alphaliner is an independent consultancy providing an exhaustive and permanently updated inventory of all 

the world containerships and liner services. Detailed descriptions of the containerships are provided, together 

with their commercial history and their current status. Liner services data sheets detail the rotation and ships 

deployed. A full section is dedicated to the liner operators, with trading profiles, fleets and orderbooks. On top 

of this, Alphaliner also provides fleet statistics, forecast and market analysis, as well as a weekly newsletter. 

This data is available by subscription at www.alphaliner.com - Please contact AXSMarine for a subscription. 




FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS 

Why is there sometimes one additional ship listed in a service data sheet ? 

For some services plied by a well defined number of ships -such as weekly fixed day 

services-, it happens that the count of ships attached to the service data sheet shows one 

ship more than indicated in the service description. This can be explained by one of the 

following reasons : 

- A ship entering General Repairs (dry dock) is temporarily replaced, but continues to 

appear in the schedules as the duration of GR is less than the duration of a full rotation 

(Ships use to stay three weeks on average in GR). 

- An additional ship is temporarily inserted to scoop up a surplus of containers. 

- An additional ship is temporarily inserted to fill a sailing gap caused by delays. 

- On pendulum services, a ship turns 'en route' for operational reasons and so does not 

achieve the full rotation. The complement of rotation is done by another ship, which adds 

to the fleet. 

- Cascade effects create overlappings in schedules (the entering ship follows the 

departing ship at one end of the rotation). 

- Conversely, ships can be missing as a sailing is skipped for planned or unplanned 

reasons. 

It also happens that a 'TBN' ship (To Be Named) appears to make up the number. Usually, 

the name of the ship appears in schedules, but does not correspond to a physical ship. We 

add in this case the mention (tbn). This case remains rare. Some lines also advertise ghost 

ships with imaginary names to not show gaps in weekly schedules. 

In extreme cases, the TBN ship is not chartered in time, or is delayed. This is quite rare but 

it happens from time to time, especially when there is a chronic lack of ships available for 

charter. In this case, smaller ships can be chartered at the last minute or shipments can be 

arranged on other services (including those of competitors). 

Sometimes, ships are squarely missing, often because of a ship shortage, of because as a 

result of contingency measures resulting in a ship sent at the last minute on another service. 

Why are destinations such as Dallas, Toronto, Moscow or Delhi not covered ? 

Alphaliner objective is to serve first the liner shipping industry, not the transportation industry 

as a whole. In this respect, our Search tool covers only sea ports and it excludes inland 

destinations, which are outside of our scope. 

Although Maersk Line, CMA CGM, MSC etc. cover inland destinations and as such are 

multimodal transportation companies, not just shipping companies, our coverage is limited 

to their shipping arms. Road haulage, stack trains, river barging or air transportation are not 

covered by our system. 




Geographical abbreviations 

EUROPE 

N. Eur - Northern Europe (From Cape North to Northern Spain) 

Baltic - Baltic Sea (East of Belts) 

UK/Cont - United Kingdom/Continent (United Kingdom + range Le Havre-Hamburg) 

S. Eur. - Southern Europe (Portugal and Mediterranean Europe) 

Med - Mediterranean (All the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea) 

W. Med - Western Mediterranean (Western Med Basin, West of Malta) 

E. Med - Mediterranean (Eastern Med Basin, East of Malta) 

Bl. S. / Black S. - Black Sea 

NE - Near East (Turkey, Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan) 

AFRICA 

N. Af - Northern Africa (From Gibraltar Strait to Suez + Morocco) 

W. Af - Western Africa (From Dakar to Angola) 

S. Af - Southern Africa (South African Republic and Namibia) 

E. Af - Eastern Africa (Mozambique to Sudan) 

Indian Oc. - Indian Ocean Western basin (East Africa, Madagascar, Mascareignes) 

ASIA 

ME - Middle East (Arabian Peninsula and Middle East Gulf) 

Indian sub - Indian Subcontinent (Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar) 

FE - Far East (Asia, East of Burma) 

SE Asia - South East Asia (From Malaysia to HK and Taiwan including Indonesia and Philippines) 

Sg - Singapore 

HK - Hong Kong 

Twn - Taiwan 

Thail. - Thailand 

Phil. - Philippines 

Vnm - Vietnam 

NE Asia - North East Asia (Northern China, Korea, Japan, Eastern Russia) 

Kanto - Eastern Japan (Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya) 

Kansai - Western Japan (Osaka, Kobe, Moji) 

AMERICA 

N. Am - Northern America (Canada, USA, Mexico) 

WCNA - West Coast North America (Mexico to Alaska) 

USWC - U.S. West Coast 

PNW - Pacific North West (From Alaska to Seattle) 

PSW - Pacific South West (San Francisco/Oakland and Los Angeles/LB) 

ECNA - East Coast North America (Florida to Eastern Canada) 

USEC - U.S. East Coast (From Canadian boundary to Florida (Key West)) 

St L. - St Lawrence (St Lawrence Region) 

USG - U.S. Gulf (From Florida (Key West) to Yucatan Peninsula) 

C. Am - Central America 

ECCA - East Coast Central America (From Guatemala to Panama) 

WCCA - West Coast Central America (From Mexico to Panama) 

Caribb. - Caribbeans (Caribbean Islands from Cuba to West Indies) 

S. Am - Southern America (All South American continent) 

NCSA - North Coast South America (Venezuela, Colombia) 

WCSA - West Coast South America (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile) 

ECSA - East Coast South America (Brasil, Uruguay, Argentina) 

OCEANIA 

ANZ - Australia-New Zealand (Australia and New Zealand) 

S. Pac - South Pacific Ocean (Various Islands in the South Pacific Basin)

ALPHALINER Liner Services - AXSMarine

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