2009 for Maersk Line was the worst year but 2010 was the best
Describing 2009 as “a year we would rather forget”, Lars Oestergaard Nielsen, managing director UAE, Qatar, Oman & Iran, Maersk Line has called on the ports industry to help it level out peaks and troughs.
“2009 for Maersk Line was the worst year we have ever had and 2010 was the best – that is not very healthy,” he said. With its Daily Maersk offering, the line hopes to bring a consistency back to the markets.
Creating a “virtual conveyor belt of global trade”, the Daily Maersk offers increased capacity from four key Asia ports, to three key Europe ports, a daily rather than weekly cut off, and a fixed transit time.
But Mr Nielsen concedes: “We are not alone in this and we cannot offer this service without our partners. We need flexibility as and when required in return for reliability.” Maersk has asked ports for operation on arrival, clear agreements on performance levels, and flexibility to add moves subject to timely communication from the line.
“In some cases the cargo will be available before the promised time and customers will be free to choose if they want to stay or if they want to pick up early. We haven’t seen this yet, but there will be no additional charge for picking up early or leaving the container on the terminal.”
Source: Port Strategy