By Karen E. Thuermer, AJOTIncreased fuel costs, shifts in global supply chain needs and larger vessels are resulting in steamship lines taking a close look at costs and ways to maximize equipment utilization. The Hamburg Süd Group, which includes the Brazilian shipping company Aliança, offers a prime example. With its core trade lanes from Europe, North America and Asia to South America East Coast recording positive market growth, the carrier is strengthening its advantages. Since February, Hamburg Süd has been offering its Trident Service, which links Europe, North America East Coast and Australia/New Zealand. The service provides numerous networking capabilities with other ship systems in the Caribbean. Consequently, in response to heavy customer demand, the group increased the service from a fortnightly to a weekly frequency in early 2007 and increased the number of vessels deployed on the lane from six to 12 2,500 teu units with high reefer capacity. Executives at the Port of Philadelphia are pleased since the “Trident Service” has been a mainstay at its at Packer Avenue Marine Terminal since February 2006. “Hamburg Süd’s Trident Service has been an extremely important addition to Philadelphia’s roster of services,” says PRPA Director of Marketing Sean Mahoney. “Since its start in 2006, it has not only bolstered our connections with Australia and New Zealand, but has given the port a direct connection to ports in Europe for the first time since the 1980s.” In March, Maersk Line joined forces with Humburg Süd to offer new NASA service that responds to changing customer requirements in the trade to and from the East Coast of South America and the East Coast of North America. Northbound the service offers comprehensive port coverage, including weekly scheduled calls in the South, Southeast and Northeast regions of the Brazilian coast. This has resulted in faster transit time from Santos to New York and faster transit time from Brazil’s northeast port of Pecem to East Coast North America. Direct service covers both Buenos Aires and Montevideo on a weekly basis, with a direct call from Montevideo to Philadelphia. Southbound, weekly scheduled calls are made in six ports on the East Coast of North America. A dedicated Santos southbound call ensures fast and reliable coverage to this largest South American port. A dedicated Suape southbound call ensures fast and reliable transit time from North America to the Brazilian northeast. Direct service provides calls from the East Coast of North America to Montevideo and Buenos Aires on a weekly basis. Faster linksOther steamship lines are revamping services to take better advantage of trade opportunities. In short, faster links to primary trading centers are key. Starting in January, Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) began offering a wider port profile for its trans-Atlantic service, the result of a major restructuring. Included is a revamped ATN loop that calls westbound to Bremerhaven, Felixstowe, Rotterdam, Le Havre, Newark, Charleston, and Miami; and eastbound to Savannah, Charleston, Newark, Bremerhaven, Felixstowe, Rotterdam, and Le Havre. Consequently, over the carrier’s three loop trans-Atlantic service (APX, ATN, ATS), HMM is offering three sailings per week Westbound to Charleston, as well as two sailings per week Westbound to New York. The CKYH Alliance, which encompasses COSCON, K-Line, Yang Ming, and Hanjin Shipping, upgraded three of its services on its five CKYH AWE loops: AWE-1 (Hanjin Loop), AWE-4 (K-Line Loop), and AWE-5 (CKYH Joint Loop). Starting in May, the upgrade includes joining three South/Central/North Express services by deploying ten 4,000 teu Panamax ships from K-Line and 14 4,000 teu ships from Hanjin. The change makes its possible to provide direct calls to Xiamen as well as express service between South/North China and the US East Coast that can compete time-wise with mini landbridge (MLB) services. “The new AWE5 service through Charleston gives our customers across the Southeast anot