Maersk making changes to mammoth Asia/Europe service

Maersk Line will next month add the Port of Hamburg in Germany and drop Southampton in the United Kingdom from its weekly Asia/Europe AE8 service.

The AE8 is part of an 18-ship butterfly operation with the AE1, which will continue with Southampton calls. Other direct Maersk services in the Asia/Europe trade with direct U.K. links are the AE2, AE9 and AE10.

In conjunction with our existing U.K. feeder and inland services, our coverage of the U.K. market remains extensive," Maersk said in a statement.

The first call at Hamburg on the AE8 section of the service is scheduled for Sept. 29 with the arrival of the Maersk Sarnia. The last AE8 call at Southampton will be made by the Maersk Taikung on Sept. 19.

We believe this will be a valuable addition to our direct services between Taiwan, East and South China and Hamburg, Maersk said of the additional Hamburg call.

Meanwhile, calls at Malaga in Spain will be added eastbound on the AE1 leg from Aug. 14 with the first westbound call scheduled for Sept. 18.

The full port rotation of the revised AE1/AE8 service will be: Kobe, Nagoya, Shimizu, Yokohama, Xiamen, Yantian, Nansha, Tanjung Pelepas, Rotterdam, Southampton, Hamburg, Malaga, Shekou, Shanghai, Ningbo, Kaohsiung, Yantian, Tanjung Pelepas, Valencia, Le Havre, Hamburg, Gothenburg, Aarhus, Bremerhaven, Rotterdam, Singapore, and back finally to Kobe. The average vessel capacity of the 18 ships deployed is about 8,000 TEUs. 

Source: American Shipper