2M deploys extra ships as Africa routings expected to last‘a few’months

Jan 17, 2024, 3:46 PM EST 

2M Alliance partners Maersk and Mediterranean Shipping Co. are adding extra vessels to services between Asia and the US East Coast as container imbalances are emerging from the rerouting of ships around southern Africa.

That comes as Maersk CEO Vincent Clerc says he expects the diversions away from the Suez Canal amid the ongoing attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea will last for at least a “few months,” increasing the risk of delays and equipment shortages for shippers.

According to a schedule update last week, the Maersk-operated Holsatia will be deployed in the TP12/Empire service as of March 6 with an expected departure from the Port of Baltimore to Shanghai. The 4,253-TEU ship had previously been deployed on trades between China, Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean, according to Sea web, a sister product of the Journal of Commerce within S&P Global.

The MSC Letizia will be deployed in the TP16/Emerald service as of a March 11 scheduled departure from Newark for Singapore. The 8,819-TEU ship had previously been deployed between North Asia and the Canadian West Coast, Sea-web data shows.

The Maersk Cuanza will be added to the TP17/America service as of an expected Jan. 21 sailing from Vietnam’s Vung Tau to Newark. The 4,496-TEU ship had previously served trades between Africa and Asia, according to Sea-web.

Maersk said in a statement the ships are moving empty containers back to Asia, adding that the extra loaders are “interim solutions” and not likely to be regularly deployed on those services.

Ships going around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope are taking 10 to 15 days longer to reach the US East Coast from Asia, according to a routing guide from M+R Spedag Group.

Empty containers building up in US

With the delays, empty container inventories are starting to build up again at US ports, DSV Senior Vice President Benton Kauffman told the Journal of Commerce. The number of dwelling empty containers is not impacting port productivity, he added, but shippers and truckers may have to find space for the empties as the delays mount.

“Ocean carriers haven’t been taking empties back as quickly, so shippers will have to hang on to them in some instances,” Kauffmann said.

Along with the 2M services, MSC is also adding the 6,500-TEU MSC Dardanelles, which is regularly deployed in Asia and the Indian Ocean, as an extra loader for service to the US Gulf and Southeast. OOCL has also deployed the 8,063-TEU OOCLWashington to its US East Coast service; the ship was previously deployed in the carrier’s trans-Pacific West Coast network.

The additional deployments come after Maersk chief Clerc told the World Economic Forum assembled in Davos, Switzerland, that there is no quick fix to the security issues facing commercial shipping in the Red Sea. At a Reuters event Wednesday in Davos, Clerc said there is no timeline for when the ocean carrier will restart transits through the Suez Canal.

“So,for us this will mean longer transit times and probably disruptions of the supply chain for a few months at least, hopefully shorter, but it could also be longer because it’s so unpredictable how this situation is actually developing,” Clerc said.