Hutchison Ports Port of Felixstowe has welcomed the first call by The Premier Alliance’s FE4 service between Asia and North Europe. The 24,000 TEU HMM Southampton arrived at the UK’s largest container port on 20 July 2025 from Singapore via the Cape of Good Hope.
The Premier Alliance was formed in February 2025 by Ocean Network Express (ONE), HMM (formerly Hyundai Merchant Marine) and Yang Ming. The alliance is a five-year extension of their previous partnership and aims to deliver a reliable and flexible service with expanded global coverage.
Commenting on the new service, Clemence Cheng, Executive Director of Hutchison Ports and Port of Felixstowe CEO, said: “The Port of Felixstowe has long been the leading UK port for trade with Asia and we are delighted to welcome the Premier Alliance to our roster of services. The FE4 service adds further options for shippers through Felixstowe and Felixstowe provides the Premier Alliance with first-class facilities as well as the deepest channel and quayside facilities in the UK. The unique extent of the deep-water access at Felixstowe is particularly important for services such as the FE4 which call at the UK as first port in Europe. They offer shippers the quickest transit times but arrive with the deepest drafts. Using Felixstowe avoids congestion and minimises delay.”
Peter Livey, HMM Managing Director (Great Britain), said: “We are proud to see the HMM Southampton inaugurate the FE4 service at the Port of Felixstowe. This marks a significant milestone in our commitment to delivering efficient and reliable shipping solutions across Asia and Europe. The FE4 service enhances our UK calling capabilities by offering faster transit times and first port access at Felixstowe. This additional call complements our existing UK port coverage and allows us to offer greater flexibility and resilience to our customers.”
Takahiro Kikuchi, Managing Director of Ocean Network Express (Europe) Ltd, said: “We are pleased to be offering a new UK port call at Felixstowe as part of our FE4 Asia-Europe service. This service, operated in partnership with the Premier Alliance, presents new opportunities to ONE and our customers. We look forward to successful collaboration with the Port of Felixstowe.”
Jack Wu, Managing Director of Yang Ming (UK) Ltd, said: “The Port of Felixstowe is the historical UK port of call for Yang Ming and we are delighted to be returning with the Premier Alliance updated FE4 loop. This allows us to provide an enhanced level of service scope, complementing our existing services. We look forward to working with the Port of Felixstowe in ensuring the highest quality of service to our customers.”
The full port rotation of the FE4 service is Felixstowe, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Le Havre, Algeciras, Singapore, Kaohsiung, Shanghai, Ningbo, Kaohsiung, Yantian, Cai Mep, Singapore, Felixstowe.
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