Evergreen is restructuring its intra-Far East KTP service, adding four calls — Xiamen, Ho Chi Minh City, Qinzhou and Taipei — while dropping Shenzhen (Shekou), Kaohsiung and Manila North from the rotation, according to DynaLiners.

The move redraws one of the Taiwanese carrier's regional workhorses across China, Vietnam, Thailand and Taiwan. It also shifts work between services rather than simply cutting capacity, which matters for anyone booking intra-Asia freight in the weeks ahead.

What does the new rotation look like?

The revised KTP loop reads: Dalian – Tianjin – Qingdao – Xiamen – Hong Kong – Ho Chi Minh City – Laem Chabang – Qinzhou – Hong Kong – Taipei – Dalian.

Compared with the old string, the changes are easy to spot:

• Added: Xiamen, Ho Chi Minh City, Qinzhou, Taipei
• Removed: Shenzhen (Shekou), Kaohsiung, Manila North
• Retained: Dalian, Tianjin, Qingdao, Hong Kong, Laem Chabang

Hong Kong now appears twice in the rotation, bookending the Southeast Asia leg. Northern Chinese ports keep their slots, so the Bohai Rim coverage is intact.

What happens to the dropped ports?

This isn't a straight service withdrawal. The Kaohsiung–Manila North connection will be covered by Evergreen's reinstated TMS service, per the DynaLiners report.

In other words, Taiwan–Philippines shippers shouldn't lose a direct Evergreen option — they'll just book it on a different string. The same can't automatically be assumed for Shekou, which has no named replacement in the announcement. South China cargo may need to route via Hong Kong, a shift that could add a day of transit plus inland haulage cost for Pearl River Delta exporters.

What does this change for shippers and forwarders?

For intra-Asia bookers, the practical consequences come down to port pairs. Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City and Guangxi's Qinzhou gain direct KTP access, which should shorten routings for cargo moving between North China, Vietnam and Thailand. Qinzhou in particular anchors the China–ASEAN trade corridor, and a direct call ties it to Laem Chabang on the same loop.

Xiamen shippers gain a third mainland China central-coast call alongside Qingdao, while Taipei returns to the rotation before the loop turns back to Dalian.

Forwarders will need to update routings and lead-time commitments accordingly. Any bookings referencing Shekou or Manila North on KTP must move to the TMS service for the Taiwan–Philippines pair, or find alternative carriers from Shekou.

For Evergreen, the reshuffle looks like network tuning rather than retreat. Keeping Laem Chabang and Hong Kong while adding Vietnam and Qinzhou suggests the carrier is chasing ASEAN-linked intra-Asia demand, the segment that has carried regional tonnage growth while headhaul transpacific lanes wobbled.

What's the read-through?

Intra-Asia remains the world's densest short-sea container market, and carriers adjust these loops constantly. A single rotation change won't move spot rates on its own. But the pattern — ASEAN ports in, mature South China and Philippines calls redistributed to a second string — signals where Evergreen sees volume heading.

Expect further fine-tuning across intra-Asia networks as carriers match capacity to the China–ASEAN trade lane's growth through the rest of the year.