Denmark's Maersk to launch a dedicated New Zealand coastal service

By deploying two 2,500 TEU container vessels, Maersk Nadi and Maersk Nansha on a weekly basis, five main ports in New Zealand, namely Timaru, Lyttelton, Nelson, Auckland and Tauranga will be called respectively in the service rotation, enhancing connectivity and providing easy access to Maersk’s global network. The combined North to South and South to North capacity will reach 250,000 TEU each year. Maersk Coastal Connect will start on July 12, 2022. The service will be operated with New Zealand crew to support the local community and ensure continued investment in New Zealand, Maersk said in a press release.

As the world is still experiencing serious consequences of COVID-19 on global supply chains with unprecedented delays and reduced carrying capacity, Maersk Coastal Connect is designed to respond proactively to the continued challenges. Meanwhile, this initiative is a greener solution compared with other freight transport modes in New Zealand.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the world in many ways, and one of them in the logistics industry is customers’ increasing needs for more visible and resilient local and global supply chains. By operating two dedicated vessels, we can position empty containers to the right places more efficiently to meet export requirements. At the same time, we are enabling more than four days of additional schedule buffer to reduce impact from the supply chain disruptions, including port congestion, tidal windows, swell, lower port productivity and longer port stay. This will ensure smooth connections to our international mainliner network and benefit more than 2,000 cargo owners in the country,” Henrik Jensen, managing director of Maersk Oceania, said in a statement.

“With Sea freight being the most environmentally-friendly mode of transportation, it has a significant potential to reduce CO2 emissions. Based on GLEC methodology to calculate the representative cargo volumes, Maersk Coastal Connect is estimated to enable forty-three thousand tonnes of CO2 savings per year compared to landside trucking service, contributing to Maersk’s 2030 targets for significant absolute emissions reductions,” My Therese Blank, head of market, Maersk Oceania, said.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (GK)