Maersk slows AE1 northbound intra-Asia

   Ocean carrier Maersk Line has added an 11th vessel to its weekly North Europe-Asia AE1 service and increased round-trip voyage time from 70 days to 77 days.
   Maersk advised March 28 it would add an extra vessel to five of its six Asia-Europe loops and “super-slow-steam” them by adding one more week to their eastbound transits.
   The AE1’s transit times eastbound from Europe to Asia have indeed increased as vessels slow steam one week between Singapore and Yantian plus another nine days to Yokohama. Transit from Bremerhaven to Yantian, for example, now takes 30 days, whereas transit westbound from Yantian to Felixstowe takes only 22 days. Interestingly the eastbound transit from Bremerhaven to Singapore remains 23 days, including a stop in Colombo, and for Tanjung Pelepas-Felixstowe the transit is a fast 18 days.
   The rotation of the AE1 remains Kobe, Nagoya, Yokohama, Ningbo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Yantian, Tanjung Pelepas, Felixstowe, Zeebrugge, Rotterdam, Bremerhaven, Colombo, Singapore, Yantian, and Kobe. The service now operates with 11 vessels with an average capacity of 8,566 TEUs each. 
   The AE1 service is one of six Asia-North Europe loops offered by Maersk, the others being its AE2, AE7, AE9, AE10, and the TP6/AE6 pendulum. Maersk said all except AE2 would be slowed. The AE2 already operates with 11 vessels, each averaging 7,776 TEUs, on a 77-day round voyage, extending to Northern China. However, it provides a Felixstowe-Singapore transit of 21 days and covers Tanjung Pelepas-Le Havre in an incredibly fast 16 days. — ComPair Data, Ben Meyer and Francis Phillips