Maersk will start a new Transpacific East Coast service with the name TP18 in an effort to respond to the increased cargo demand and to improve schedule reliability.
The new weekly service will primarily deploy 4,500 TEU vessels, calling at the ports of Vung Tau, Yantian, Ningbo and Shanghai with a Panama Canal transit and direct connections to Houston and Norfolk.
In more detail, TP28 rotation will be as follows:
Vung Tau (Vietnam) – Yantian (China) – Ningbo (China) – Shanghai (China) – Houston (Texas) – Norfolk (Virginia)
The first sailing of the new service, which will be solely operated by the Danish ocean carrier, is expected to begin on 23 March with the 2010-built Maersk Wallis that will depart from the Vietnamese port of Vung Tau.
The launch of the TP28 service coincides with changes on the rotation of another Maersk’s Transpacific product, TP20 service, which will feature a direct call at the port of Jakarta, instead of Vung Tau.
The revised rotation of the TP20 loop will be as follows:
Jakarta (Indonesia) – Yantian (China) – Ningbo (China) – Shanghai (China) – Charleston (South Carolina) – Newark (New Jersey)
Additionally, Maersk said it intends to gradually increase the size of the vessels deployed on the TP20 service, from 4,500 TEU to 6,500 TEU.
