[040311.EN.SEA] Maersk's 21-ship Asia-North America Butterfly Loop to Split Up

A MOVE to shake up Maersk Line's Asia-North Europe network will split a butterfly service, enabling the AE10 to break away from the AE1 loop to become an independent service from April 7.

ComPair Data reports that the rotation for the existing butterfly service is Hakata, Kobe, Nagoya, Yokohama, Hong Kong, Shenzhen-Yantian, Tanjung Pelepas, Felixstowe, Rotterdam, Bremerhaven, Tangiers, Jeddah, Jebel Ali, Ningbo, Shanghai, Kaohsiung, Shenzhen-Yantian, Hong Kong, Tanjung Pelepas, Zeebrugge, Gdansk, Aarhus, Gothenburg, Bremerhaven, Rotterdam, Singapore, Shenzhen-Da Chan Bay, Hong Kong and back to Hakata. 

It said the standalone service is operated with 21 Maersk containerships each with an average capacity of 8,785 TEU. 

The report said the AE1 westbound and eastbound legs account for the first half of the rotation and include port of calls in Japan, South Korea, Scandinavia and the Baltic region. The AE10 legs serve the second half of the rotation that call at major ports in China and Northern Europe.

Source : HKSG, 01.03.11.