Maersk slows FEW 3, adds Cape Town

   The ocean carrier Maersk Line has added a new port call at Cape Town and an 11th vessel to its weekly Southeast Asia/West Africa service FEW3.
   Interestingly, vessels on the FEW3 will call at Cape Town both inbound from Asia en route to West Africa, as well as outbound from West Africa on their way to Port Kelang and Maersk’s mega-regional hub in Tanjung Pelepas
   Round-trip voyage time on the FEW3 has increased from 70 days to 77 days, and transit times eastbound from West Africa to Asia have been increased by about seven days as vessels slow steam one week between Lagos, Nigeria and Cape Town.
   The revised rotation of the FEW3 is Port Kelang, Tanjung Pelepas, Cape Town, Pointe Noire, Onne, Lagos, Cape Town, and Port Kelang. The service is currently operated with 10 Maersk vessels and one from subsidiary Safmarine with an average capacity of 2,280 TEUs.
   The FEW3 is one of three Maersk and Safmarine services that connects Asia directly with West Africa. The others are its FEW1, which was recently converted to a West Africa feeder based on the carrier’s Southeast Asian hubs at Singapore and Tanjung Pelepas (reported by American Shipper Mar 20) and the FEW2, which calls at Walvis Bay, Apapa, and Tema to and from Korea, China, and Tanjung Pelepas.
   Maersk currently offers direct calls at Cape Town on three other services: its North Europe-South Africa SAECS service, operated jointly with Safmarine, MOL and DAL; its joint West Mediterranean-South Africa 225 service with Safmarine; and its joint U.S. East Coast-South Africa AMEX service with Mediterranean Shipping Co.. The carrier recently dropped a call at Cape Town from its MESA service between the Middle East and South Africa (reported by American Shipper Apr 12), after having added the port to the MESA’s rotation just a few months prior (reported by American Shipper Feb 22). – ComPair Data, Ben Meyer