Maersk ends Mideast-Indian Ocean loop

   The ocean carrier Maersk Line has suspended its weekly IOI service between the Middle East and the Indian Ocean. 
   The last sailing was by the Maersk Warsaw, which departed Salalah on April 6.
   The four-ship average 1,713-TEUs IOI loop had a port rotation of Salalah, Reunion Island, Port Louis, Toamasina, Victoria, and Salalah. Maersk subsidiary Safmarine had been sharing space on the service. 
   The IOI was one of six Maersk and Safmarine services that connected the Middle East directly with the African continent. Maersk’s MESA service, which had previously served the Middle East and Indian Subcontinent to South Africa exclusively, was recently expanded to include calls at the carrier’s major Middle East hub at Salalah, and Reunion Island, Port Louis, and Toamasina (reported by American Shipper April 12) ostensibly to continue to offer a direct connection between the Middle East and Indian Ocean in lieu of the IOI. — ComPair Data, Ben Meyer