Maersk Line cuts capacity on WestMed through service revamp

DENMARK's Maersk Line has announced a number of enhancements to its WestMed service that plies the trade between the Mediterranean and North America.

The upgraded service will be provided in cooperation with French shipping line CMA CGM through a Vessel Sharing Agreement (VSA) that is set to commence in March 2009. As part of the agreement, Maersk Line will operate four vessels and CMA CGM will operate one, each with an average capacity of 3,500 TEU.

The revised WestMed service will replace two existing services: the Amerigo service operated by CMA CGM and Evergreen and Maersk Line's current WestMed.

By combining the two strings, approximately 2,900 TEU of weekly capacity will be removed from the trade, bringing needed stability to the market, a Maersk statement said.

The new WestMed service is really the best of both worlds. We are expanding coverage and improving reliability and transit times to better serve our customers, said Soren Castbak, senior director of Atlantic product management for Maersk Line. And at the same time we deal pro-actively with the economic climate, taking out capacity in line with the softening demand from customers in the trade.

Maersk's revised WestMed service will continue coverage of all ports in the current WestMed rotation, plus new direct port calls are being added in Marseilles' Fos-sur-Mer, Malta and Miami, Florida.

Maersk Line said that in the past Southern France was served via the carrier's hub in Algeciras by a feeder. The transit time from Marseilles' Fos-sur-Mer to New York-New Jersey will be reduced from 22 to 10 days.

The first sailings are scheduled to begin during the second week of March.

Source: Schednet