Friday, September 9, 2016

Maersk, MSC to Fill Transpacific Void

By Mark Edward Nero

Global shipping companies Maersk Line and Mediterranean Shipping Co. (MSC) each issued word on Sept. 7 that they’ll launch new weekly transpacific trade services soon in attempts to partially fill the void left by the recent collapse of Hanjin Shipping.

Maersk Line’s new TP1 service, which will complement existing Transpacific sailings, is scheduled to launch Sept. 15.

The service will call at Yantian, China; Shanghai, China; Busan, South Korea; and Los Angeles/Long Beach. It will have six vessels with a capacity of 4,000 TEU per week deployed.

“We are responding to increased demand in the Transpacific,” Klaus Rud Sejling, head of Maersk Line’s East-West Network, said. “With supply chains disrupted, many customers are approaching us for transport solutions for their cargo.”

MSC’s new service, like that of Maersk, launches Sept. 15 and is designed to assist shippers, following Hanjin’s announcement that it was entering into receivership.

MSC’s additional sailing, which the company is calling MAPLE, is to be made up of six vessels of 5,000 TEU capacity each.

In order to cover the anticipated high initial demand, the first two sailings will call Yantian, China; Shanghai, China; Busan, South Korea; and Long Beach, California.

After that, the calls are scheduled to take place at the ports in Busan; Shanghai; Yantian; and Prince Rupert, British Columbia.

Hanjin, the world’s seventh largest container carrier, filed a receivership application with the Seoul, South Korea Central District Court on Aug. 31 seeking court receivership after losing the support of financial institutions that had been providing it credit.

The company also stopped accepting new shipments in the wake of the filing, including at the Port of Long Beach’s Total Terminals Intl., in which it owns a majority stake.