Maersk to cut transatlantic capacity too

Maersk to cut transatlantic capacity too Maersk Line will in January cut its transatlantic capacity by 5 percent to 6 percent as part of a massive reworking of its global service network in order to push rates up in struggling trades.
   The Danish mega-carrier will replace the TA3/Newark Shuttle and TA6/Oceania Pendulum services with a revised TA3/TP12 pendulum service.
   Earlier this month Maersk said it is seeking a minimum increase of $300 per container in the transatlantic by Jan. 1. The announcement was made independently of its partners in the Trans-Atlantic Conference Agreement (TACA) and was quickly copied by the two other market leaders Mediterranean Shipping Co. and Hapag-Lloyd.
   The full rotation of the TA3/TP12 will be Bremerhaven, Felixstowe, Rotterdam, Le Havre, New York, Charleston, Miami, Los Angeles, Oakland, Los Angeles, Savannah, Charleston, Newark, and back to Bremerhaven.
   The TA2 service will lose an eastbound call at Charleston.
   Maersk's parent company A.P. Moller-Maersk Thursday said it expects its container shipping division to lose $600 million this year as a result of lower freight rates, higher fuel costs and the integration costs relating to its acquisition of P&O Nedlloyd.
   In the transpacific market, Maersk plans to reduce its transpacific capacity by about 10 percent and implement a freight rate increase of at least $300 per FEU in the Asia/U.S. West Coast North America market and a minimum rise of $500 per FEU for the Asia/U.S. East Coast trade.
   Among other service changes, it has also decided to suspend its weekly Asia/West Coast South America LACAS service.