Hamburg Sud, Maersk Line will in the next few months merge two independent services in the U.S. East Coast/Australasia trade to form one joint weekly operation.
Pending regulatory approval, from the end of May or early June, Hamburg Sud will cancel its Trident service that uses 12 ships averaging 2,600 TEUs, while Maersk will put an end to its Oceania service, which runs with eight vessels of about 2,500 TEUs.
The joint string will use 12 vessels, six from each carrier, with a nominal capacity of 2,800 TEUs and 530 reefer plugs. The full port rotation will be Philadelphia; Savannah, Ga.; Balboa, Panama; Auckland; Sydney; Melbourne; Port Chalmers; Tauranga; Auckland; Manzanillo, Panama; Cartagena; Savannah; Philadelphia; Tilbury; Bremerhaven; Antwerp; and back to Philadelphia.
The rationalization will see Maersk no longer offering direct calls between Australasia and the U.S. ports of Miami, New York and Norfolk. The Danish carrier, as per its existing Oceania link, will not offer space in the transatlantic or Europe/Australasia legs. Hapag-Lloyd will continue its slot charter agreement with the Danish carrier on the legs Maersk serves.
"In line with our customers' requirements the new service will offer competitive and faster connection between the main ports in Australia and New Zealand to and from the U.S. East Coast," Hamburg Sud in a statement.
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