Maersk (India & Sri Lanka cluster), the core liner shipping company of the Maersk Group, and the leading container shipping company in the world, today announcedthe commencement of operations of its new Far-East Alliance linking Far-East region to Indian subcontinent.On the 14th of January 2014, Maersk had announced a new cooperation withthree existing Far-East to Indian subcontinent services, starting February 2014.
Mr. Franck Dedenis, Managing Director for Maersk (India and Sri Lanka), said, "India is an important market for us andour aim is to grow profitably. With the Far-East alliance, we are making sure that Maersk's service network and capacity is optimized. This multi carrier co-operation will provide more frequent sailing between Asia's major trading hubs thus bringing tremendous value to our customers."
In a slot sharing agreement, 18 vessels with a total capacity of about 17,500 twenty-foot equivalent (TEU) will be deployed on the three Far-East Indian subcontinent services. The multi-carrier cooperation will provide more frequent sailings between Asia's major trading hubs and, at the same time, eliminate unnecessary service duplications between the carriers.
The enhanced network will enable the carriers to offer three weekly sailings covering China, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka compared with one weekly sailing currently offered independently by each liner.
Advisory/ Schedule
• FI1 service from Nansha departing on 26th February, 2014 will reach JNPT in 17 days and Pipavav in 20 days (Rotation: Nansha -Chiwan-Hong Kong-Singapore -Colombo-Jawaharlal Nehru-Pipavav-Colombo-Port Klang -Singapore-Nansha)
• FI2 service departing on Shanghai on 24th February, 2014 will reach JNPT 20 days and Pipavav in 22 days (Rotation: Shanghai -Ningbo-Xiamen-Hong Kong-Singapore-Colombo-Jawaharlal Nehru-Pipavav-Port Klang -Singapore-Hong Kong-Shanghai)
• FI3 service departing on 25th February, 2014 from Xingang will reach Pipavav in 25 days and JNPT in 27 days (Rotation: Xingang-Dalian -Qingdao-Kwangyang-Busan-Ningbo-Hong Kong-Singapore-TanjungPelepas-Colombo-Pipavav-Jawaharlal Nehru0Port Qasim0Singapore-Xingang)
"With this step, we once again reinforce our commitment to ensure efficient delivery of cargo in terms of quality, timeliness and reliability," added Mr. Dedenis.