The world's largest ocean carrier, Maersk Line, has announced plans to phase out services and raise freight rates in 2007 following a review of its transpacific services (TP), to "reflect the dramatic increase in the cost of providing the service" between Asia and North America, a company statement said.As part of the review of carrier's transpacific services, the TP10 and TP14 services from China and Japan to the US west coast will be phased out to improve port coverage in the region and connections to growing markets, as well as to provide customers with more cost effective transportation solutions.
The restructured Pacific network will include better coverage of Thailand to the US west coast. The TP9 service will now offer a direct Laem Chabang to Los Angeles service; and the TP12 service will provide faster transit times from Japan to the US west coast, as well as wider US east coast port coverage from China and Japan.
"A part of our work is to gain efficiency and continuously improve our product to provide a competitive offering aligned with our customers' needs. We will continue to develop our services in order to meet customer requirements, but we will need to ensure that this is being done with fair compensation," said Maersk Line's senior vice president, Robert Kledal. As a result of this decision, Maersk Line will introduce a general rate hike of at least US$300 per FEU on its trade routes that call at US west coast ports, and US$500/FEU for US east coast ports.
For cargo continuing to inland destinations, the increases will be assessed on a case-by-case basis depending on each customer's specific needs.
Ultimately, the goal is for the shipping line to charge higher fees in a bid to seek full compensation for the "dramatic" rise in intermodal charges.
"We will continue to run our business efficiently in order to limit the impact of rising costs. There is no doubt that the high fuel and intermodal rail costs are having an impact on the industry. "While there has been talk about overcapacity, in our experience, added capacity has been absorbed by the volume growth. This puts strain on the terminals, rail networks, and trucking capacity, which are challenged to keep pace," said Mr Kledal.
The restructured Pacific network will include better coverage of Thailand to the US west coast. The TP9 service will now offer a direct Laem Chabang to Los Angeles service; and the TP12 service will provide faster transit times from Japan to the US west coast, as well as wider US east coast port coverage from China and Japan.
"A part of our work is to gain efficiency and continuously improve our product to provide a competitive offering aligned with our customers' needs. We will continue to develop our services in order to meet customer requirements, but we will need to ensure that this is being done with fair compensation," said Maersk Line's senior vice president, Robert Kledal. As a result of this decision, Maersk Line will introduce a general rate hike of at least US$300 per FEU on its trade routes that call at US west coast ports, and US$500/FEU for US east coast ports.
For cargo continuing to inland destinations, the increases will be assessed on a case-by-case basis depending on each customer's specific needs.
Ultimately, the goal is for the shipping line to charge higher fees in a bid to seek full compensation for the "dramatic" rise in intermodal charges.
"We will continue to run our business efficiently in order to limit the impact of rising costs. There is no doubt that the high fuel and intermodal rail costs are having an impact on the industry. "While there has been talk about overcapacity, in our experience, added capacity has been absorbed by the volume growth. This puts strain on the terminals, rail networks, and trucking capacity, which are challenged to keep pace," said Mr Kledal.