MAERSK SEALAND REVIEWS FUTURE OF ASIA/MED/U.S. EAST COAST LINK

MAERSK SEALAND REVIEWS FUTURE OF ASIA/MED/U.S. EAST COAST LINK    Maersk Sealand is studying whether to reconfigure or terminate its Suez Express all-water service connecting Asia, the Mideast, the Mediterranean and the East Coast of North America.
   The Danish mega-carrier has already decided to discontinue later this month the Asia/U.S. West Coast leg of the TP5 service, which is an extension across the Pacific of the Suez Express service.
   If Maersk Sealand continues to operate the Suez Express section unchanged, after ending the Asia/U.S. West Coast leg of the former pendulum service, it would need 10 ships instead of previous 14. The ships on this service have an average capacity of about 4,200 TEUs.
   The carrier is considering further changes, including taking additional ships out of the trade.
   The Suez Express section of the service calls at Halifax, New York, Norfolk, Charleston, Algeciras, Gioia Tauro, Jeddah, Salalah, Tanjung Pelepas, Singapore, Hong Kong, Kaohsiung and at ports in Japan and Korea.
   A Maersk Sealand spokesman said the carrier will not lay up ships displaced from service. Instead, it will assign them to other services and redeliver chartered tonnage.