Container line CMA CGM has restructured its expedited Transpacific service to utilize Oakland as its first stop rather than Los Angeles. The Golden Gate Bridge replaces SeaPriority Express which, as discussed in Panjiva’s research of Aug. 24, was designed to provide a differentiated product. 

Continued congestion at the port of Los Angeles has undermined the reliability of container shipping services more broadly and has led the big three shipping alliances to reset their schedules by blanking sailings during the lunar new year. The routing will include Oakland and Seattle on the U.S. side and Kaohsiung, Shanghai and Yantian on the Asia side. The vessels used are smaller scale, reflecting the lower demand and limited calls for the services.

The firm’s U.S. region head, Ed Aldridge, stated the firm “had to find an alternative solution that allows supply chains to remain relatively intact and improve transit times” and does not expect the problems to change until June, Journal of Commerce reports.

Panjiva’s data shows that shipments from Yantian to Los Angeles handled by CMA CGM, the main lane for the SeaPriority but including all CMA CGM services on the route, have surged since the service’s introduction in fall 2020. Imports in Q4’20 climbed 55.7% year over year, while shipments in the first three weeks of January jumped 73.0% year over year. The latter may also reflect vessels that had been held up in December due to congestion being unloaded later than expected.

Chart shows imports to the port of Los Angeles from Yantian, China handled by CMA CGM. Source: Panjiva

Importers to southern California might not find drop-offs in northern California to be as useful given the potential additional transit needs for eastbound shipments from the ports. That could leave CMA CGM competing for customers who already use Oakland from the three Asian ports covered by the service.

The largest shipping line to Oakland on that route in 2020 was Evergreen with a 19.3% share of shipments after a 27.7% year over year slide in Q4’20. That was followed by CMA CGM’s own non-expedited services which had a 16.0% share and had declined by 1.4% in Q4’20. CMA CGM could rebuild its business by offering the expedited service to existing importers which have included Costco and J.M. Smucker among others. Third place was ONE with a 9.9% share after building its market share with growth of 20.8%.

Chart segments seaborne imports to the port of Oakland, CA from Yantian, Shanghai and Kaohsiung by container line on a monthly and three-month average basis. Source: Panjiva