Maersk Line will close down its Trans-Pacific 5 (TP5) US-flag service operated by its Maersk Line Ltd affiliate in January next year as part of a strategy to eliminate unprofitable Pacific services.
The end of the current TP5 service from North Asia to Los Angeles-Long Beach and Oakland, using five older Panamax, US-flagged container ships will not produce a significant reduction in the overall container ship capacity on the route, according to experts, because it is a relatively small service.
The termination of the TP5 route will significantly reduce Maersk Line’s existing service capacity to North Asia, but the shipping giant plans to fill the void in part by covering ports in the region with calls made by the new 2M Alliance’s east-west network. Maersk will launch the 2M Alliance in January with MSC.
The strategy is aimed at negotiating higher freight rates in next spring’s round of annual trans-Pacific contract negotiations, with Maersk indicating that it will not negotiate long-term contracts that run for a year or longer at unprofitable freight rates.