Maersk adds direct Vietnam call

Maersk adds direct Vietnam call    Maersk Line said it will add a direct, all-water call to a terminal in Vietnam on the eastbound leg of its transpacific 6 (TP6) service.
   The service will call at the SP-PSA International Terminal in Vung Tau, Vietnam, a deepwater facility that accommodates larger vessels located 80 kilometers south of Ho Chi Minh City near the mouth of the Cai Mep-Thi Vai River.
   The first sailing of the TP6 will be the Mathilde Maersk on May 12. The service will offer an 18-day transit time from Vietnam to Los Angeles.
   Maersk deploys 14 ships with capacities of more than 9,000 TEUs in the service, which continues on to Europe as the AE6. The rotation for the 14 ships in the combined services TP6/AE6 is Los Angeles, Yokohama, Nagoya, Shanghai, Ningbo, Xiamen, Hong Kong, Yantian, Tanjung Pelepas, Jeddah, Barcelona, Valencia, Algeciras, Malaga, Tanjung Pelepas, Ho Chi Minh City, Yantian, Hong Kong and Los Angeles.
   In the westbound direction Vietnam will be serviced via transshipment at Hong Kong by feeder service.
   This is the sixth service to call the United States directly from Cai Mep, according to American Shipper affiliate ComPair Data. The others are:
   ' The New World Alliance's PS1, with an 18-day transit from Cai Mep to Seattle.
   ' The New World Alliance's PSX, with an 18-day transit from Cai Mep to Los Angeles.
   ' The CKYH's SJX, with a 16-day transit from Cai Mep to Long Beach.
   ' The CKYH's AWE-4, with a 27-day transit from Cai Mep to Norfolk via the Panama Canal.
   ' The Grand Alliance's SCX, with a 25-day transit from Cai Mep to Los Angeles, starting in late April. ' Chris Dupin