Maersk Line, the container shipping arm of oil and shipping giant A.P. Moller–Maersk Group, has started calling at Subic port to provide an alternative to shippers seeking to skirt the congestion at Manila ports.
The carrier’s weekly Intra-Asia 4 (IA4) service to and from Subic made its maiden call at the port on January 3, 2015. The vessel arrives every Saturday morning and departs on the same day from Subic.
By including Subic port in its Intra-Asia 4 (IA4) service, Maersk Line said it is now the long-haul carrier with the widest coverage in the Philippines.
“With port calls in Subic, Manila and Batangas, we now have three weekly port calls in Luzon, which provide our customers with multiple options to choose from,” Erry Hardianto, managing director of Maersk Line Philippines, said in a statement.
The full rotation of the IA4 service is as follows: Vostochny-Busan-Kwanyang-Shanghai-Xiamen-Yantian-Hongkong-Tanjung Pelepas-Singapore-Jakarta-Surabaya-Jakarta-Tanjung Pelepas-Singapore-Subic-Manila-Nansha-Yantian-Kaoshiung-Ningbo-Shanghai-Busan-Vostochny.
The service calls at the Yantian port in China, which connects Maersk Line’s mother vessel services to Europe, the United States, and other parts of the world. Philippines exporters can thus use Subic port as an alternative to Manila. On the other hand, importers can get their cargo faster at Subic, since the IA4 service calls there after stopping at Tanjung Pelepas and Singapore, the two main transshipment hubs for Maersk Line in Southeast Asia.
Maersk said the port congestion in Manila made 2014 a challenging year for the local shipping industry. However, Hardianto said that despite this, “we have seen strong growth in volumes last year, and growing potential in the manufacturing and electronics sectors.”
“We want to offer more products to our customers to support them and to facilitate increasing trade from the Philippines,” Hardianto added.
Maersk Line is the third carrier to offer Subic operations as an alternative for shippers affected by the Manila port congestion, after intra-Asia carrier SITC and Japanese liner NYK, whose services began last year. They join regular callers APL, Wan Hai, and Swire Shipping in providing connections between the Northern and Central Luzon hub and other ports.
