2M Sets Out its Stall: Drewry

 

2M carriers Maersk Line and MSC last week announced details of a new Asia-North Europe network that will come into effect in the third quarter peak season. 

 

The changes are subtle with the number of ships and services staying the same and maintaining the same branding, but the port rotations of each loop will be altered and with fewer port calls transit times will be reduced.

 

According to Maersk’s customer brochure the changes are being made to the network to “ensure it is better equipped to deal with contingencies, thereby mitigating interruptions to your global supply chain.” 

 

One of the benefits trumpeted a couple of weeks ago by the member lines of THE Alliance that shippers can look forward to next year was “very attractive transit times” and it seems that the 2M carriers have decided to take up the challenge and speed things up ahead of their new rivals.

 

Rather than increasing the operating speed of vessels – an unattractive cost proposition in light of bunker prices doubling in recent months – the 2M carriers have decided to reduce the number of ports served. 

 

Inevitably this means that they will lose some direct connections but the pay-off is that transit times in surviving corridors can be reduced as more time is spent at sea.