A.P. Moller – Maersk (Maersk) announced ocean shipping service, ‘Al Maha’, that will commence its rotation in June 2023. The ‘Al Maha’ service will rotate between the important ports across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Egypt, and Morocco. As a result of this implementation, Maersk will discontinue the ME3 and ME4 services and serve all customers on those trade routes with the Al Maha service, according to the company's release.
The Al Maha service aims to benefit exporters and importers in the region across different commodities.
The petrochemical exports from Saudi Arabia have traditionally faced challenges either from either a cost or capacity perspective with existing ocean transportation options. The Al Maha service will offer loading flexibility from Saudi Eastern Province, enabling customers to reshuffle between Dammam and Jubail, providing ample capacity to cater for customers’ needs and with more reliable schedules allowing better planning of their supply chains. The Al Maha service will offer further connections to European, Middle Eastern and Far Eastern markets for the petrochemical exporters out of Saudi Arabia.
Oman’s Vision 2040 focuses on economic diversification, including creating a world-class fisheries sector that is ecologically sustainable and a net contributor to the economy of Oman. The Al Maha service, with its enhanced capacity, will be in an excellent position to support the anticipated growth in fish exports out of Duqm. At the same time, it will continue to deliver unmatched reliability to Maersk’s customers.
Likewise, the UAE – West Africa market will also benefit largely from the enhanced capacity of Al Maha service. With the expectation of higher schedule reliability and predictability from this service, customers will be able to plan their supply chains well in advance and, in return, serve their end-users better.
The Al Maha service will include seven vessels with a nominal capacity of 8,500 TEUs per week and follow the rotation Port Tangier – Port Said – Jeddah – Salalah – Jebel Ali – Doha – Dammam – Jubail – Jebel Ali – Duqm – Salalah – Jeddah – Port Said – Port Tangiers.
A.P. Moller - Maersk is an integrated logistics company working to connect and simplify its customers’ supply chains. The company operates in more than 130 countries and employs over 100,000 people worldwide. Maersk is aiming to reach net zero emissions by 2040 across the entire business with new technologies, new vessels, and green fuels.