COPENHAGEN: As 2M Alliance’s TP1/Maple and TP9/Eagle services have been inconsistent in terms of departure frequency and extended transit times, according to 2M Alliance of Maersk and MSC, the two container giants have decided to merge them into an updated TP1/Maple line.
The first sailing of the new consolidated TP1/Maple service will be on 28 October and will begin from the port of Xiamen with the following rotation:
Xiamen (China) – Yantian (China) – Ningbo (China) – Shanghai (China) – Busan (South Korea) – Yokohama (Japan) – Vancouver (Canada) – Prince Rupert (Canada) – Yokohama – Busan.
“This change will remove the current waiting times in Vancouver and allow us to offer stable week-ly departures from Asia, improved environmental efficiency and competitive transit times,” pointed out the two partners.
Meanwhile, 2M Alliance has also decided to suspend its TP7/Lotus service, while Maersk has announced updates in its TPX service.
The 4,500 TEU Container ship Maersk Baltimore will be deployed on the first sailing of the new consolidated standalone TPX service with an estimated time of arrival (ETA) at Haiphong port on 23 October.
The new rotation of TPX service will be Haiphong (Vietnam) – Yantian – Ningbo – Shanghai – Seattle (United States) – Los Angeles (United States) – Yokohama – Xiamen.
“Due to the irregular departures of previous TP1, TP9 and TP7 services, the above changes will cause minimal change to our overall offered capacity,” commented Maersk.
MSC noted that Seattle and US inland destinations offered through Seattle will continue to be served by its Chinook service.
