Maersk has announced that its Polaris service will be upgraded to a weekly service, effective from April.
The Danish ocean carrier said the Polaris service connects New Zealand with Australia and the service upgrade will provide an improved Trans-Tasman connection and increased product flexibility by enabling New Zealand cargo routings over Australia, as well as Lyttelton on our extensive Oceania network.
Meanwhile, Maersk announced another upgrade in the Oceania region, strengthening its Oceania to North American Westcoast direct PANZ service to face current ongoing disruptions across the New Zealand supply chain.
The three container ships which will be deployed on the updated Polaris service will be the 1,762 TEU Trieste trader, the 1,762 TEU B trader and the 2,240 TEU Nicolai Maersk.
As part of this network change, the Maersk Coastal Connect service will be phased out, during the next month, while Maersk noted it will offer alternative coverage of Nelson and Timaru ports weekly on the Polaris service.
Additionally, Maersk will also replace the Sydney call in Australia with Melbourne on the Polaris service, expanding its Trans-Tasman service to/from Melbourne and allowing New Zealand export freight transshipment possibilities in Melbourne.
The port rotation will be as follows: Melbourne (Australia) – Auckland (New Zealand) – Nelson (New Zealand) – Timaru (New Zealand) – Lyttelton (New Zealand) – Melbourne
Port o Auckland will be the only port on the Polaris service that will be served on a fortnightly basis.
