Maersk makes counter moves, adding and subtracting Asia-Europe capacity

MAERSK Line is to cut back capacity by 20 per cent on its Asia-Europe AE2 loop in March bringing its average capacity of 10,790 TEU to 8,612 TEU after adding a new service next month.

The Danish carrier will reduce its five vessels of 13,000 TEU to 8,100 to 8,500-TEU ships and also drop a westbound Valencia call and replace it with Le Havre, reported American Shipper.


In a related move, says London`s Containerisation International, Maersk will start a new Asia/Mediterranean AE20 loop next month as it counters new partnership agreements between the Grand Alliance and New World Alliance as well as united action from CMA CGM and MSC, and Evergreen joining parts of the CKYH alliance.


These combinations have been prompted by Maersk`s deployment of economies of scale to deliver its Daily Maersk service suite with its on-time money-back guarantees.


The new revised rotation will be Le Havre, Rotterdam, Bremerhaven, Hamburg, Antwerp, Felixstowe, Singapore, Busan, Hakata, Dalian, Xingang, Qingdao, Ningbo, Shanghai, Shenzhen-Yantian, Tanjung Pelepas and back to Le Havre. Busan and Qingdao will be moved from this rotation to the AE20 loop in April.


Its six other Asia-Europe loops of AE1, AE7, AE9, AE10, the TP6/AE6 pendulum, and the joint FAL5/AE8 service with CMA CGM will all make a westbound call at Tanjung Pelepas, its preferred westbound hub. Its eastbound hub is Singapore with only one eastbound call to Tanjung Pelepas on the TP6/AE6. The AE1, AE2, and its FAL5/AE8 eastbound will call at Singapore only.


The new setup, which will commence in February, will enable the carrier to offer faster transit times in several key corridors while maintaining wide coverage of the two regions in terms of direct ports of call.


The new AE20 service will call at Ningbo, Shanghai, Shenzhen-Yantian, Guangzhou-Nansha, Port Tanjung Pelepas (PTP), Valencia, Malaga, Algeciras, Tanger-Med, Singapore and return to Ningbo. Vessels of 13,000-TEU will be used on the service.


The revamped AE11 service, deploying 8,000-9,000-TEU ships, will call at Qingdao, Busan, Shanghai, Ningbo, Hong Kong, Shenzhen-Yantian, Tanjung Pelepas, Port Said, Valencia, Barcelona, Genoa, Port Said, Salalah, Singapore and back to Qingdao.