APL, Hyundai Merchant Marine, and Mitsui OSK Lines, all members of The New World Alliance (TWNA), jointly announced that in the face of an unprecedented rise in operating costs, the carriers would withdraw more capacity than in previous years and do it sooner than in the past. The immediate winter reduction in Transpacific capacity will be around 10%, and this will be followed by a further reduction of 5% to 10% of its joint capacity from early December. The withdrawal may also run longer than in past years, said TWNA.

The carriers said they would have sufficient capacity for current demand and that service will continue to all of their existing port locations. However, they didn’t rule out further realignments to minimize the impact of higher costs.