ZIM shipping line discontinued the eCommerce Xpress (ZEX) service, which was launched during the period of sudden high demand of the freight market in 2020, at the end of March.
The termination of ZEX means that the Israeli shipping line will no longer call at ports in Los Angeles and will return to their traditional markets in the Pacific Northwest and the US East Coast.
According to container shipping consultancy Linerlytica, ZEX's last train will be on March 30, 2023, when the 4,253-TEU Alexander Bay completes its journey in Busan.
ZEX was launched in June 2020 to meet growing demand on the transpacific route, due to increased logistics bottlenecks amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
ZEX was originally designed to call only at Yantian, Dachan Bay, Los Angeles with a round trip time of 35 days, and used five 4,250 TEU container ships.
ZEX marks Zim's return to the Southwest Pacific service after first withdrawing from the service in 2004 as the carrier focuses primarily on the US West Coast Pacific Northwest as well as US West Coast routes. the airline's traditional mainline to the East Coast of the United States.
The successful launch of ZEX led to the introduction of two more Southwest Pacific services, Zim Southeast Asia eCommerce Xpress (ZX2) in March 2021 and Zim Central China eCommerce Xpress (ZX3) in May 2019. 2021. However, severe port congestion on the US West Coast forces ZIM to drop the ZX2 and ZX3 services in March 2022 and merge the modified ZEX service with calls to ports: Ningbo , Xiamen, Yantian, Los Angeles, Busan, Ningbo.
Confirming the end of ZEX service, a ZIM spokesperson told Container News, “ZEX, a premium service designed for e-commerce, has been suspended until further notice due to demand. change. We are constantly reviewing and adjusting our services. These changes are part of our flexible approach, as we pay close attention to market volatility.”
