Maersk Line has again suspended its AE-9 sling less than two months after the Danish ocean box carrier resuscitated it as part of its daily service on the Asia-Europe trade lane.
The suspension cuts to five from seven the carrier’s sailings every week since the Daily Maersk was introduced in September 2011, a move observers attributed to slow traffic on the major trade route.
Industry watchers say that the fate of the vessels deployed on the loop was still unknown, but that some of the 7,000-TEU (20-foot-equivalent unit) ships might be deployed to its TP-7 Asia-US east coast service, which from April will reportedly be rerouted by Maersk via the Suez Canal rather than through the Panama Canal.
This rerouting might mean upgrading the vessels in the TP-7 service from ten 4,500- to 5,000-TEU ships to eleven 6,000- to 7,000-TEU versions.
Photo: cliff1066
