Maersk re-jigging North American network yet again

Maersk re-jigging North American network yet again    The great Maersk Line network reshuffle continues with the news that the Danish carrier is ending its TP12 service, the fourth weekly transpacific service it has cut in the space of a few months.
   The Copenhagen-based line said the last import voyages to the United States on the TP12 will be made in early May. The service was only recently merged with the transatlantic TA3 service to create a 12-ship pendulum routing calling: Bremerhaven; Felixstowe; Rotterdam; Le Havre; Newark, N.J.; Charleston, S.C.; Miami; Balboa, Panama; Los Angeles; Oakland, Calif.; Shanghai; Kwangyang; Kobe; Nagoya; Yokohama; Oakland; Los Angeles; Balboa; Savannah; Charleston; Newark; and back to Bremerhaven.
   The world’s number one container shipping line is renowned for its long-term planning, but is increasingly being forced to make running repairs to its global service network as it attempts to redress massive anticipated losses from 2006.
   Friday’s announcements were Maersk’s fifth and sixth notices since late November about impending changes to its transpacific and transatlantic services alone. Since then, it has ended three other transpacific services, the TP2, TP10 and TP14, and made a host of changes in other trades.
   The financial pinch has also resulted in Maersk reducing the number of U.S. and Canadian inland destinations it serves by about 18, cutting shippers routing options from about 250,000 to 50,000 (March American Shipper, pages 60-63).
   The rationale for the latest changes followed the same theme as before. “The industry has not achieved freight rates that cover the roundtrip costs on the transpacific service to North America,” said Robert Kledal, senior vice president of Maersk Line in North America. “We will deploy vessels on routes where reasonable rates of return can be secured.”
   Maersk said it would cover the lost calls from the TP12 on other weekly Pacific services, specifically the TP3, TP7, TP8 and AC1. Also, it will continue coverage of the Pacific Southwest from the Japanese ports of Kobe, Osaka, and Shimizu thanks to a slot charter agreement with Evergreen.
   Maersk confirmed to American Shipper that the TP7 would take over from the TP12 and merge with the TA3 service. As a result, the TA3 will lose westbound calls at Charleston, which will be replaced by Savannah, and the eastbound all-water service from the U.S. West Coast will be discontinued and replaced by a mini landbridge routing via Houston. The westbound coverage of the U.S. West Coast will be unchanged.
   The new look TA3/TP7 will call Bremerhaven, Felixstowe, Rotterdam, Le Havre, Newark, Savannah, Miami, Los Angeles, Oakland, Shanghai, Yantian, Hong Kong, Busan, Balboa, Miami, Savannah, Charleston, Newark and Bremerhaven.
   The TP3 will add calls at Shanghai and westbound calls at Manzanillo in Panama. The revised rotation of the TP3 will be Shanghai, Yantian, Hong Kong, Kaohsiung, Balboa, Newark, Norfolk, Manzanillo and Shanghai.
   The TP8 service will incorporate calls at Nagoya and Yokohama in Japan to give it a rotation of Dalian, Xingang, Qingdao, Kwangyang, Busan, Nagoya, Yokohama, Los Angeles, Oakland and Dalian.
   Maersk added that its Asia-Caribbean AC1 loop would include a non-stop link between Yokohama and Balboa, enabling it to connect to the TP7 or TP3.
   ComPair Data, American Shipper’s affiliated database for global liner services, at https://www.compairdata.com, will monitor the changes and provide details of the revised services as and when they occur.