Maersk slows AE9, adds Rotterdam

   In conjunction with the changes to its Asia-Europe network announced by American Shipper Feb. 2, the ocean carrier Maersk Line has added a new inbound port call at Rotterdam and a 10th vessel to its weekly Asia-Europe loop AE9.
   The carrier has also dropped a westbound call at Malaga, making Rotterdam the new first port inbound from Asia.
   Round-trip voyage time on the AE9 has increased from 63 days to 70 days, and transit times eastbound from Europe to Asia have been increased by about seven days as vessels slow steam one week between Tangiers, Morocco and Xiamen. The revised rotation of the AE9 is Rotterdam, Bremerhaven, Felixstowe, Zeebrugge, Tangiers, Xiamen, Ningbo, Shanghai, Fuqing, Yantian, Tanjung Pelepas, and Rotterdam. The service operates with 10 Maersk vessels with an average capacity of 7,554 TEUs.
   The AE9 service is now one of six Asia-Europe loops offered by Maersk. The others are its AE1, AE2, AE7, AE10, and the TP6/AE6 pendulum, all of which call at Rotterdam except for the TP6/AE6. The new call at Rotterdam on the service replaces a call at the port from the recently withdrawn AE8/FAL5, which had been run jointly with French line CMA CGM, as part of the Daily Maersk product. — ComPair Data, Ben Meyer