CMA CGM-Maersk to super slow Asia/Europe loop

CMA CGM-Maersk to super slow Asia/Europe loop    A CMA CGM-Maersk Line big-ship Asia/Europe loop will employ super-slow steaming on its eastbound backhaul leg for 10 weeks, Maersk said in a note Tuesday.
   The line said the slow steaming plan on the FAL 5-AE8 service comes 'as a direct consequence of the canceled westbound sailings and the related slide of the westbound schedule,' Maersk said, with 14 days to be added to the eastbound transit during the 10-week period.
   According to American Shipper affiliate ComPair Data, the service has a rotation of Ningbo, Shanghai, Yantian, Tanjung Pelepas, Port Kelang, Le Havre, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Rotterdam, Zeebrugge, Port Kelang, Singapore and Ningbo. The backhaul from Zeebrugge to Port Kelang stretches to 37 days. For comparison, Maersk’s AE1 service takes only 21 days to transit from Bremerhaven to Singapore.
   The service had been previously slow steaming with 10 vessels (five each from CMA CGM and Maersk) with an average capacity of 13,486 TEUs. ComPair Data shows two additional, but not-yet-allocated vessels will be added to account for the service now being super slow steamed.
   The service was set up by the lines in mid-2010 as one of the first to wholly employ 13,000-TEU vessels.