Maersk to drop India/Mideast/Med service

Maersk to drop India/Mideast/Med service    Maersk Line said last week it is suspending a key Indian Subcontinent/Middle East/Mediterranean loop from December and in turn bolstering two Asia/Europe services with new calls at key Middle East transshipment ports.
   The Danish liner carrier said it will drop its ME3 service between the Indian Subcontinent and the Mediterranean at the beginning of December, a suspension that will last six months and one intended to match capacity with drops in seasonal demand. The carrier said the suspension would cull 5,000 TEUs of weekly capacity in that trade.
   The current ME3 rotation, according to ComPair Data, is Port Said, Gioia Tauro, Algeciras, Tangiers, Tarragona, Giaio Tauro, Port Said, Salalah, Jebel Ali, Pipavav, Nhava Sheva, and Port Said.
   Maersk operates a loop to northern Europe, dubbed ME1, that links many of the same Indian and Middle East ports, but does not have any direct Mediterranean calls.
   To help offset the port coverage lost on the ME3, Maersk said it is adding a call at Salalah, a key transshipment port in Oman, to its AE7 service between the Far East and Northern Europe. The AE7 has only had a stop in Tangiers in the Middle East/North Africa region, and no stops in the Indian Subcontinent.
   The carrier will also add an eastbound call (from Europe) to its massive AE1 butterfly loop between Asia and Europe. That service, operated with 19 ships averaging 8,470 TEUs of capacity, calls at more than 35 ports. The AE1 has only had one stop in the Middle East and Indian Subcontinent region — a call at Salalah on the way from Bremerhaven to Da Chan Bay in the Pearl River Delta.
   The line said it would release more details of service changes on Tuesday.
   Meanwhile, Maersk also said it will reduce vessel speed on services between Asia and Europe to cut down on fuel consumption and air emissions.
   'Starting at the end of November 2009, all westbound sailings from Asia to Europe will move from 20 to 22 knots to 17 to 19 knots average speed,' the line said. 'This will be combined with 14 to 16-knot speeds eastbound to offer best-in-class network coverage and an improved carbon footprint. The speed change will add one or two days' transit time to westbound legs, depending on the service.'
   With fuel prices rising and demand at the end of 2009 expected to fall, many lines could once again adopt a slow-steaming approach, lengthening transit times, but cutting down on fuel consumption and creating slack in schedules to increase reliability.