Maersk slows WAF2, further speeds up WAF3

  The ocean carrier Maersk Line has added a second (northbound) port call at Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, a new call at Conakry, Guinea and an additional vessel to its weekly WAF2 service between hub ports in the West Mediterranean and West Africa. 
   Simultaneously, it has sped up its parallel WAF3 loop for a second time.
   Roundtrip voyage time on the WAF2 has increased from 42 days to 49 days, and northbound transit times from West Africa to the Mediterranean have been increased by about seven days, now taking 19 days between Libreville, Gabon and Maersk’s West-Mediterranean hubs in Tangiers and Algeciras. The revised rotation of the WAF2 loop is Tangiers, Algeciras, Abidjan, Cotonou, Libreville, Abidjan, Conakry, and Tangiers. The service is currently operated by seven vessels with an average capacity of 2,497 TEUs. Subsidiary Safmarine continues to purchase slots.
   It was reported by American Shipper July 20 that Maersk sped up its WAF3 loop, removing one vessel and decreasing the roundtrip voyage time from 42 days to 35 days, although transit times on the service remained roughly the same as vessels no longer slow-steamed one week between Apapa and Tin Can Island in Lagos, Nigeria. Now the carrier has sped up the WAF3 by another week, removing an additional vessel and decreasing roundtrip voyage time from 35 days to 28 days. Transit times northbound from West Africa to the West Mediterranean on the WAF3 have improved by about seven days, now taking 10 days from Lagos, Nigeria to Tangiers, Morocco.
   The WAF3 is now operated with three Maersk vessels and one from Safmarine with an average capacity of 2,472 TEUs and the port rotation remains Tangiers, Algeciras, Apapa, Tin Can Island, and Tangiers.
   Since the termination of the WAF10 service (also reported by American Shipper July 20), Maersk now operates a total of 10 direct weekly services between Tangiers/Algeciras and West Africa including the WAF2 and WAF3, the others being its WAF1, WAF5, WAF6, WAF7, WAF8, WAF9, WAF11 and WAF13 loops. – ComPair Data, Ben Meyer