LAST WEEK Maersk Line's 1300 teu Cornelia Maersk launched the line's fortnightly SA - Europe service when it arrived in Durban on February 26.
The line, arguably the largest in the world, has started out small but has already indicated that it has the resources, when the time is right, to increase frequency and capacity.
Our policy world-wide is to offer weekly or more frequent services. In SA we will have to find a way to try and make it weekly, Copenhagen-based liner services executive vice president, Knud Erik Moller Nielsen told FTW in Johannesburg last week.
We've had an excellent response so far, especially from reefer shippers both north- and southbound and are on target with our first sailing. The service, which connects South Africa and Namibia (Maersk is the first deep sea liner operator to call at Walvis Bay) with Maersk's Algeciras hub in Spain, offers efficient connections not only to Europe but also the US and Mediterranean, says Maersk SA m.d. Niels Strand-Nielsen.
The Maersk Line philosophy is based around the concept of hubs, Moller Nielsen explained.
We don't necessary believe we need to be the fastest, but we can serve the whole world.
A shipper hubbing in Algeciras can distribute his cargo efficiently to a variety of destinations around the world in a competitive transit time. And as Strand-Nielsen points out, direct services will always be faster to the first or second port, but not necessarily to all ports.
Recognising the imbalance problem on the route, Maersk expects to carry some empty containers to Europe. But we are trying to carry more reefer cargo and will offer shippers the opportunity to load dry cargo in reefer containers southbound if the opportunity arises, he said.
The reefer market is clearly a major focus for Maersk, and Moller Nielsen is confident that SA perishable exports will increase. We also believe that there will be a stronger demand for reefer containers in favour of using reefer tramp ships.
This expectation is based on what has happened in a lot of other reefer trades. Our biggest ships can carry more than 1400 teus which is more than the biggest reefer tramper in the world.
