Maersk Line announces it will adjust its Trans-Pacific 6 service (TP6) to add a direct, all water call from South Vietnam to the US West Coast. With the direct TP6 call, Maersk Line becomes the first carrier to introduce the 'Post-Panamax' class (9000 TEU vessels) to Vietnam. The first sailing will be on the Mathilde Maersk on Wednesday, May 12, 2010.' The new service will call at the SP-PSA International Terminal in Vung Tau, Vietnam, a deepwater facility that accommodates larger vessels located 80 km south of Ho Chi Minh City near the mouth of the Cai Mep-Thi Vai River. This direct service will have a Sunday arrival into the APM Terminals facility, Los Angeles, California delivering the cargo in just 18 days. Cargo availability will be on Tuesday. The westbound port rotations will remain unchanged; exports will depart Los Angeles on Thursdays.

'Our customers have requested this direct call and the time is right to include a direct service from Vietnam in our network,' said Bill Woodhour, North America Sales Manager for Maersk Line. 'This call will complement our other Trans-pacific products, giving our customers comprehensive coverage with unmatched service reliability.'

The General Director of Maersk Line in Vietnam, Peter Smidt-Nielsen, shares the excitement in Vietnam about this new service, 'It gives us great pleasure to be able to meet our customers' demand for a direct call to the US West Coast. We have worked hard to meet this demand and make it feasible to call Vung Tau with the largest vessels ever to call a Vietnamese port, and are thrilled to introduce such a competitive and reliable product to this exciting and growing market.'

Maersk Line's TP6 service, which will slow steam beginning with the same sailing, will continue to offer a competitive product covering the Far East and US West Coast.' With a deployment of fourteen vessels, ports of call eastbound include Tanjung Pelepas, Malaysia; Vung Tau, Vietnam; Yantian, China; Hong Kong, China and Los Angeles, California. The westbound rotation will be Los Angeles, California; Yokohama, Japan; Nagoya, Japan; Shanghai, China; Ningbo, China; Xiamen, China; Hong Kong, China; Yantian, China, and Tanjung Pelepas, Malaysia. South Vietnam will be serviced via transshipment at Hong Kong by feeder service on the westbound rotation.' Vietnam service to and from the US East Coast will remain unchanged on the TP3 & TP7 service.

Exports from Vietnam include garments, footwear, ceramics, furniture, toys, coffee, tea, seafood and consumer goods.