Maersk, MSC to reroute Asia-U.S. East Coast service through Panama Canal

The 2M Alliance carriers’ TP12/Empire will become an eastbound around-the-world service in September, instead of using the Suez Canal in both directions.    2M Alliance members Maersk Line and MSC said they will take advantage of the new lane in the Panama Canal by transforming the TP12/Empire service in to a standalone, around-the-world service instead of routing the ships in the string through the Suez Canal in both directions.
   The ocean carriers said the new routing will provide significantly faster transit times between the Far East and the US East Coast.
   The new rotation is Hong Kong, Chiwan, Yantian, Ningbo, Shanghai, Busan, Panama, New York/New Jersey, Norfolk, Baltimore, New York/New Jersey, the Suez Canal, Salalah, Colombo, Singapore and Hong Kong. The service will utilize 11 vessels with a capacity of 8,500 TEUs.
   “We are changing our TP12 service to provide a better product to shippers in Korea, Northern and Eastern China. By transiting the expanded Panama Canal, we will significantly reduce transit times into key ports on the US East Coast,” Maersk Line Head of East-West Network Klaus Rud Sejling said. “At the same time, we will reduce our CO2 and exhaust gas emissions due to the shorter distance.”
   In addition, Maersk and MSC said they will connect the TP11/America service, which connects the Asian with U.S. East  Coast ports via the Suez Canal, and the TP8/New Orient, which connects Asian ports with Prince Rupert and Los Angeles, into a single pendulum string that will use 17 vessels with a capacity of 8,500 TEUs. The carriers noted the change would expand the port coverage of both services.
   Maersk said despite the changes being made, there will be no changes to the capacity in the Asia-U.S. East Coast network.