[310112.EN.SEA] 'Daily' Maersk Asia-Europe Sailings To Be Cut To Six From Seven a Week

MAERSK Line will curtail its direct "Daily Maersk" Asia-Europe sailings from seven to six starting this week, reports maritime analyst Alphaliner.

It will withdraw its AE-8 string that is jointly run with CMA CGM (which names the loop FAL 5). Afterwards, the world's third largest carrier will re-align the five 13,830-TEU vessels from the FAL 5 service to its new alliance with MSC on Asia-Europe trade. And Maersk will re-deploy its five 13,092-TEU ships to Far East-Med service.

Also, Maersk will revamp port rotations of its remaining Asia-Europe strings by adding calls at Le Havre, Zeebrugge, Rotterdam and Hamburg and withdrawing calls at Mediterranean ports to "free up space for Far East-North Europe cargo on Far East-North Europe loops currently wayporting in the Med, with the corresponding volumes shifted to Far East-Med loops, including the additional Far East-Med loop (AE-20)," said Alphaliner.

For its AE 1 loop, a call at Zeebrugge is added while the westbound call at Port Said is removed. For AE-2 string, a call at Le Havre is added while the eastbound Valencia call is withdrawn. For AE-6 service, a call at Hamburg is added while the westbound Algeciras call is removed. For AE-7 sailing, there is no change for port rotation. For AE-9 sling, a call at Rotterdam is added while the westbound Malaga call is moved out. And for AE-10, the eastbound calls at Algeciras and Tangier are cancelled.

Maersk has not yet announced if there will be any replacement for the AE-8 withdrawal. Nonetheless, Alphaliner said it could "offer a transshipment service via Med ports to the three North European destination ports that are currently part of its Daily Maersk offering - Felixstowe, Rotterdam and Bremerhaven."

Source : HKSG, 31.01.12.