Maersk takes 19 ships off Asia-Europe route
Maersk will permanently scrap the AE5 service, which employs eight vessels, and halt the AE9 sailing, which has 11, until early December, the Copenhagen-based company said today. The action will bring its total capacity reduction on the route to 21 percent this year after a 9 percent cut in February.
“Asia-Europe capacity is too great after the significant reduction in demand over the summer and companies are having to adjust much faster than they’re accustomed to,” said Peter Sand, chief analyst at Danish shipping association BIMCO.
Container rates from Asia fell below break-even last month as Europe’s sovereign debt crisis depressed demand for consumer goods, according to London-based ship broker ICAP Plc. With economies remaining weak, volumes may drop 3 percent for 2012 as a whole, and Maersk could remove more ships and cut sailing speeds to further manage capacity, it said in a statement.
“There is currently no need for the number of ships sailing,” said Vincent Clerc, Maersk’s chief trade and marketing officer, adding that the company will take steps to adjust to declining demand “without reducing our market position.”
Source: bloomberg.com
