Maersk Line announced improvements to their Asia - Europe network for implementation mid-May 2009 onwards.

On their Asia to Northern Europe strings, they will concentrate their UK services into Felixstowe (AE1 service) and improve the direct coverage between China and Le Havre (AE10 service).

To the Mediterranean, they will run the AE11 (Asia-Jeddah, Egypt, Italy, France) service in a vessel sharing agreement with CMA-CGM. At the same time, they will introduce direct calls from Asia to Trieste and Koper on the AE12 service, also in partnership with CMA-CGM.

"We are very pleased to announce these Asia - Europe service improvements.

We believe it displays our commitment to our customers, also in the present volatile trading environment. With these changes we are offering a wider range of port calls than ever before," says Lee Sissons, Director of Asia-Europe services in Maersk Line.

"We do not find it necessary to expand capacity and have therefore entered into a number of vessel sharing arrangements instead of pushing additional tonnage into the market. We believe that our customers will benefit from the service developments in terms of improved transits and wider coverage."

ASIA - EUROPE CHANGES
(BE=Belgium, CN=China, DK=Denmark, EG=Egypt, ES=Spain, FR=France, GB=Great Britain, DE=Germany, IT=Italy, LK=Sri Lanka, HK=Hong Kong, JP=Japan, KR=South Korea, MA=Morocco, MY=Malaysia, NL=Netherlands, OM=Oman, RO=Romania, SA=Saudi Arabia, SG=Singapore, SI=Slovenia, SE=Sweden, TH=Thailand, TR=Turkey, TW=Taiwan, UA=Ukraine)

AE1: Japan, South China and Malaysia to Northern Europe Westbound will add Felixstowe and remove Le Havre and Southampton. There are no changes eastbound.

Maersk will focus their Asia-UK coverage in Felixstowe to improve efficiencies in their vessel network and their UK inland haulage set up. For this reason, the Southampton call on will cease. The Le Havre call will be moved to the AE10 service.

AE1: Kobe (JP), Nagoya (JP), Shimizu (JP), Yokohama (JP), Nansha (CN),

Yantian (CN), Tanjung Pelepas (MY), Felixstowe (GB), Rotterdam (NL), Hamburg (DE), Bremerhaven (DE), Salalah (OM), Nansha (CN), Da Chan Bay (CN), Ningbo (CN), Shanghai (CN), Kaohsiung (TW), Yantian (CN), Hong Kong (HK).

First vessel westbound: Sine Maersk, 5 May, Yokohama.

First vessel eastbound: Sine Maersk, 2 June, Rotterdam.

AE6: Japan, East & South China, Malaysia to Middle East, Spain and West Mediterranean

Maersk will add Xiamen and Salalah westbound. Benefits include:

  • By adding Xiamen, wider coverage to Tanjung Pelepas, Middle East, the East Mediterranean (via Port Said), Spain and the West Mediterranean (Via Algeciras and Tangier)
  • Direct Japan to Salalah coverage for Asia-Middle East & East Africa markets
  • Direct Salalah to West Mediterranean coverage

AE6: Yokohama (JP), Nagoya (JP), Shanghai (CN), Ningbo (CN), Xiamen (CN),

Hong Kong (HK), Yantian (CN), Tanjung Pelepas (MY), Salalah (OM), Port Said

(EG), Barcelona (ES), Valencia (ES), Algeciras (ES), Tangier (MA), Tanjung Pelepas (MY), Yantian (CN), Hong Kong (HK)

First vessel westbound: Margrethe Maersk, 17 May, Shanghai.

AE9: Thailand, South East Asia and Colombo to Northern Europe

Westbound, Maersk has swapped the order of the port calls to Bremerhaven and Rotterdam. Maersk will remove Port Said eastbound and replace Tangier with Algeciras. Maersk will move the Port Said-Jeddah and Jeddah-Asia coverage to AE12 eastbound.

AE9: Laem Chabang (TH), Tanjung Pelepas (MY), Port Kelang (MY), Colombo (LK), Zeebrugge (BE), Felixstowe (GB), Bremerhaven (DE), Rotterdam (NL), Algeciras (ES), Jeddah (SA), Colombo (LK), Port Kelang (MY), Singapore (SG)

AE10: East & South China, South East Asia to North Europe and Scandinavia Maersk will add Le Havre westbound and Remove Port Said westbound. Benefits include:

- Direct and quick connections to Le Havre from East and South China and South East Asia.

  • End week South China