Ocean carriers are suspending more headway services from Asia as global demand plummets. Maersk said on the 11th that it will cancel capacity on the Asia-North Europe route after suspending two trans-Pacific routes at the end of last month. “As global demand is expected to decrease, Maersk is looking to balance the transport service network accordingly,” Maersk said in a note to clients.

Ocean carriers are suspending more headway services from Asia as global demand plummets. Maersk said on the 11th that it will cancel capacity on the Asia-North Europe route after suspending two trans-Pacific routes at the end of last month. “As global demand is expected to decrease, Maersk is looking to balance the transport service network accordingly,” Maersk said in a note to clients.

According to eeSea data, the loop deploys 11 ships with an average capacity of 15,414 TEUs and takes 77 days for a round trip. Maersk said its overall aim remains to provide predictability to customers and ensure disruption to its supply chain is minimised by servicing affected vessels with alternative routes. Meanwhile, Maersk’s 2M partner Mediterranean Shipping (MSC) said on the 10th that its “MSC Hamburg” voyage was only temporarily cancelled, which means the service will resume in a week.

However, the sharp decline in booking spcae (especially from China) means that the three shared vessels of the 2M Alliance serving the east-west trade trunk voyages have no choice but to rationalize them to avoid spot and short-term A further slump in contracted freight rates has negatively impacted its long-term contracts that maintain profits.

Maersk said in its information that the current capacity adjustment will be “continuous”, adding that it hoped customers “to ensure that the impact is minimized by booking space in advance to other route service networks.”

However, operators who decide to slash capacity to support short-term rates need to be careful not to breach the minimum service levels agreed in long-term contracts with shippers, which are still far more profitable than they were before the pandemic.