Maersk and Hamburg Sud have revealed a temporary merger of their two services from the US East Coast/Australasia route to form a joint weekly service with Hapag Lloyd buying slots.
"This restructuration will result in a significant reduction in capacity on the ANZ-USEC sector," said AXS-Alphaliner News.
Pending regulatory approval by June, it is expected that Hamburg Sud will end its Trident service while Maersk will stop its Oceania service.
The restructured service will be complemented for Maersk Line by a new weekly feeder service between NZ ports, Sydney and Melbourne, the Southern Star Express, it said.
Twelve vessels with an average capacity of 2,800 TEU and fitted with 530 reefer plugs each, will be deployed from Maersk and Hamburg Sud with each company providing six ships each.
With Hamburg Sud handling the transatlantic leg, rotation will be Tilbury, Bremerhaven, Antwerp to Philadelphia and then to Savannah, Balboa, Auckland, Sydney, Melbourne, Port Chalmers, Tauranga, Auckland, Manzanillo (Pan), Cartagena, Savannah, Philadelphia and back to Tilbury.
Cartagena will be removed before November, according to the Paris-based shipping news and analysis agency. Cartagena is a regional hub for Hamburg Sud.
The new arrangement will cover Maersk's connections with Lyttleton, Wellington, Auckland, Port Chalmers, New Plymouth, Nelson and Timaru. It will replace the Maersk's present Trans-Tasman service, operated jointly with MSC.
Maersk says that the change is "a direct result of the negative developments in our cost base, primarily caused by increasing fuel costs, combined with an unsustainable development in the supply and demand balance".
|
