Maersk Line revises SAE service

Denmark’s Maersk Line has revised its South Atlantic Express (SAE) service with the addition of port calls in Savannah and Wilmington in North Carolina.

The addition of these calls and adjustments to the overall schedule will improve transit times and broaden coverage for this service to benefit our customers, a statement from the carrier said, noting that the service provides significant capacity for  temperature-controlled cargo shipments.The shipping giant also pointed out that consistent with its efforts to ensure stability within the Latin America-North America trade lanes, the amended SAE service leverages a southbound call at Miami mid-week for improved service and convenience to the general commodities export market.

Furthermore, the SAE offers connections to Maersk’s Expreso service via the Port of Puerto Cortes in Honduras.

It also marks the initiation of Maersk Line service to the US Port of Wilmington, with a four-day transit from Santo Tomas in Guatemala and full gate availability on Saturdays in Wilmington for pickup and deliveries, it said.

A northbound call to Miami has also been removed from the service as has port calls in Charleston.

The Miami adjustment will become effective with the sailing of the Maersk Tarragona Voy. 0908, departing Santo Tomas on February 8. The final sailing from Charleston will be the southbound departure of the Maersk Tarragona Voy. 0911, on March 3.

According to Exim News Service, the revised SAE service will make its first northbound call to Savannah on March 5 by the Maersk Tangier Voy. 0910, followed by an initial call to Wilmington on March 6.

The new SAE rotation is as follows: Savannah, Wilmington, Norfolk, Miami, Puerto Cortes and Santo Tomas.

MAERSK Line has announced plans to raise bunker fuel surcharges from March 1 from $ 140 to $ 150 per TEU on the Middle East-South Africa routes and from $265 to $295 per TEU on the Far East-South Africa routes based on increases in oil prices and determined by the Maersk bunker adjustment factor (BAF) calculator.

During the fourth quarter 2008, the industry experienced declining freight rates in the Europe-to-Asia trade, Maersk Line said, adding the trend continued into 2009. But it also said there were now indications that demand was increasing because of renewed recent strengths of the pound and the euro.

Source: Transportweekly