Maersk adjusts services to cover TP10 suspension

Maersk adjusts services to cover TP10 suspension    Maersk Line said Wednesday it is slightly altering the rotations of two of its transpacific services to cover ports previously covered in its TP10 service, which is to be dropped at the beginning of October.
   Maersk, CMA CGM and Hyundai Merchant Marine said earlier Wednesday they would be temporarily halting the TP10 service (which the French carrier calls Hudson) between Asia and the U.S. East Coast via the Panama Canal due to slack demand.
   The service, which started in May, was part of a growing partnership being forged between the European carriers on transpacific and other trades.
   To cover for port gaps caused by the suspension of the TP10, Maersk said it would add a call in Ningbo to its TP3 service, which it jointly operates with CMA CGM using 14 ships of 5,000 to 6,400 TEUs. TP3 goes from Northeast and Southeast Asia to the U.S. East Coast via the Suez Canal, then swings back through the Suez and Southeast and Northeast Asia before looping to the Pacific Northwest ports of Seattle and Vancouver and back to Japan.
   The new rotation for the TP3 is Shanghai, Ningbo, Hong Kong, Yantian, Tanjung Pelepas, Newark, Norfolk, Savannah, Tanjung Pelepas, Hong Kong, Yantian, Shanghai, Busan, Seattle, Vancouver, Yokohama and Shanghai.
   The other service to be amended is the TP7, a transpacific Asia/U.S. West Coast/U.S. East Coast/Northern Europe loop that transits both ways via the Panama Canal. Maersk operates this service on its own with 12 4,800-TEU ships on average. It will see a Busan stop added eastbound and withdrawn westbound. Meanwhile, a Da Chan Bay stop will be added.
   The new TP7 rotation is Yantian, Hong Kong, Busan, Yokohama, Balboa, Miami, Savannah, Charleston, Newark, Bremerhaven, Felixstowe, Rotterdam, Le Havre, Halifax, Newark, Savannah, Miami, Balboa, Los Angeles, Oakland, Kaohsiung, Da Chan Bay and Yantian.
   The schedule amendments go into effect at the end of September and early October.