Maersk drops Halifax call

Maersk drops Halifax call Maersk has confirmed reports in Canadian newspapers this morning that it will end direct service to Halifax.
   Spokesman Michael Storgaard said the result was part of changes to its MECL 1 and MECL 2 services to the Middle East and Indian subcontinent.
   The Chronicle Herald of Halifax had quoted Karen Oldfield, president and chief executive officer of the port, who told a luncheon sponsored by the local Chamber of Commerce Thursday that an announcement was imminent.
   'Within the next few days, Maersk will announce some routing changes. It is most likely Halifax will not be on the call list. We're not the only ones. They're doing this around the world,” the paper quoted Oldfield as saying.
   On Monday, Maersk announced service changes in the Pacific, which it said were 'part of our initiative to redefine our North American service model and streamline our ocean and inland routes.'
   The news comes on the heels of the sale of Halterm, the terminal where Maersk calls to Macquarie Infrastructure Partners of New York. Reports say Maersk supplies about a quarter of the terminal's container volume.
   This morning Maersk announced the changes in services to the MECL services, but did not mention leaving Halifax in the official announcement. It said, however, schedule changes were enhancements which 'will further enable us to meet our customers' transportation requirements through improved transit times, expanded port coverage, optimized sailing frequency, and unmatched schedule reliability.'