The Container-News platform today reported that COSCO Shipping Lines has withdrawn its express China-Canada-US intermodal service that was launched in October 2021, as carriers continue to trim capacity in response to falling demand and plunging freight rates.
Container News said it was informed that the CEN-EXPRESS service had its last sailing when the Xin Ying Kou arrived at Prince Rupert on November 29..
The service used five 4,250 TEU ships to move containers from Qingdao and Shanghai in China to Prince Rupert, from where the containers were railed from DP World’s terminal in the northern British Columbia port via the Canadian National Railway to Chicago.
The ships have since been redeployed to COSCO’s Pacific Northwest services.
Freight rates have fallen to almost the low levels seen before the pandemic, and carriers have been blanking sailings as a result, Container-News said.
(Photo from Prince Rupert Port Authority)
