News

18 Mar 2008

Effective from the end of May 2008, Maersk Line will redesign its current 'Oceania Service' connecting Australia and New Zealand to the U.S. East Coast and South - and Central America.
The new service will provide a fast and competitive connection between the main ports in Australia and New Zealand and the U.S. East Coast and be offered under a Vessel Sharing Agreement with Hamburg SA 1/4 d.
The new Maersk Line service will cover the following port rotation:
Auckland (New Zealand), Sydney (Australia), Melbourne (Australia), Port Chalmers (New Zealand), Tauranga (New Zealand), Auckland (New Zealand), Manzanillo (Panama), Cartagena (Columbia), Savannah (US), Philadelphia (US), Savannah (US), Balboa (Panama), Auckland (New Zealand).
Only temporary and will be excluded latest November 2008.
The restructured service will be complemented by a new weekly feeder service offering a fast connection between Sydney and Melbourne to the main ports of New Zealand. The new Southern Star Express service will also provide enhanced coverage of the New Zealand market by offering direct connections to all Maersk Lines services from Lyttleton, Wellington, Auckland, Port Chalmers, New Plymouth, Nelson and Timaru. The Southern Star Express service will replace our present Trans Tasman service.
The change of the Oceania Service 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. The new service will bring balance to the present market conditions and allow us to better utilise our assets. To cater for the peak season in 2009, Maersk Line will provide upgraded capacity in line with our customers' requirements.
"Maersk Line always focuses on providing a consistent, cost efficient and reliable service to our valued customers. By introducing the restructured service in the Oceania" Americas trade, our objective remains to offer our customers the best and most flexible product designed to cope with market needs. We are dedicated to reducing our environmental impact which is reflected in the future deployment of three smaller feeder vessels instead of the larger mainline vessels that perform the coastal feedering today",- says Jorgen Harling, Group Vice President in Maersk Line.
In addition, our customers will continue to benefit from the features that characterise Maersk Lines service in this trade, including:
. Dedicated direct service between Oceania and North America
. Efficient connections to feeder networks in South and Central America, and the Caribbean
. Fast transit times
. Widest scope of port coverage in Oceania
. Extensive network of own agents at destination and origin
. Global connectivity via seamless access to Maersk Line's worldwide network
Better terminal facilities and inland options in North America addressing the complete logistic-cost chain.