New & Updated Services In a customer advisory issued on Wednesday, Maersk said the 2M Alliance is making several changes during the first quarter of 2023, affecting cargo movement on North Europe - North America & Mediterranean - North America trade lanes. The changes include adding three vessels, one on each of their TA1, TA3 and TA6 services and changing the port rotation of sailings connecting Europe and North America. In addition, the advisory mentioned the alliance intends to slow the speed of its vessels to reduce emissions. MSC Swiss-based carrier revised its ‘NWC- South Africa’ service connecting Europe to South Africa. The new port rotation started in January with a call at Cape Town on the northbound leg. The revised port rotation of the service will be as follows: Rotterdam – London Gateway – Antwerp – Hamburg – Le Havre – Sines – Las Palmas – Coega – Durban – Cape Town – Las Palmas – Rotterdam. HAPAG LLOYD HL changed the rotation of its Mediterranean South America West Coast (MSW) services earlier this month. The service now has a rotation change where Guayaquil, Ecuador and Civitavecchia, Italy, will be implemented as port calls, said the carrier. The new port rotation is: Valencia- Civitavecchia – Livorno - Genoa – Barcelona – Caucedo – Cartagena – Buenaventura – Paita – Posorja – Guayaquil - Puerto Limon (Moin) – Cartagena – Tangier - Malaga - Valencia. CMA CGM The port rotation of the ‘ASEA Kenya’ service was revised in January. CMA replaced the Shekou port call with Ningbo Port. The new port rotation of the service will now be as follows: Shanghai – Ningbo – Nansha – Singapore – Tanjung Pelepas – Port Klang – Colombo – Mombasa - Port Klang - Singapore - Shanghai. CMA CGM enhanced its ‘INDAMEX 2’ service connecting the Indian Subcontinent with US East Coast. A new call at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, was added to the rotation starting 1 January. The new port rotation is: Port Qasim - Mundra - Nhava Sheva - Jeddah - Norfolk - Charleston - Savannah - Port Qasim. In addition, the carrier’s Eagle Express X (EXX) service added a new call at Yantian and dropped the Honolulu westbound call. The revised rotation is: Busan – Yantian – Ningbo – Shanghai - Los Angeles – Oakland - Dutch Harbor – Busan. ONE ATS - Effective February 2023, ONE will launch a new fortnightly feeder service to connect Peru with Chile. The first vessel on the service will be ‘Baltic Petrel’, and it is due to depart from Callao on 1 February. The port rotation of this service will be: Callao – Arica – Iquique – Callao. ONE’s Maputo/Mombasa India Middle East service (MIM) will increase its sailing frequency from fortnightly to weekly in January 2023. The increased frequency will begin with the westbound sailing arriving at Jebel Ali on 20 January and the Eastbound sailing from Mombasa on 31 January. The rotation remains unchanged: Jebel Ali – Mundra – Mombasa - Maputo – Jebel Ali. Ellerman City Liners ECL is offering a direct bi-weekly container service between Europe and SSA Jacksonville Container Terminal. The port rotation is: Antwerp – Rotterdam – Netherlands – Tilbury - New York – Wilmington - Jacksonville. Making business even better… Going Green Danish carrier Maersk took a new step in its efforts to use methanol to fuel its container ships. According to Splash247, Maersk recently invested “in C1 Green Chemicals, a Berlin-based startup which has found a way to mass-produce green methanol at a competitive price.” According to the German company, their new methanol production technology makes decentralised green methanol production possible almost anywhere. “With their innovative technology, it is a positive step towards decarbonising the shipping industry and our overall mission of decarbonising supply chains,” Maersk stated in a press release. Analysts claim the pace of Maersk’s investments in methanol could make it the owner of a large chunk of the global methanol supply in the near future. Investments Terminal Investment Limited (TIL), MSC’s subsidiary responsible for port operations, concluded an agreement with Gruppo Investimenti Portuali (GIP) for the complete acquisition of Terminal Darsena Toscana (TDT) in the port of Livorno, Italy. The agreement will give TIL 100% of the terminal’s shares once it is approved by the authorities. This new investment adds to the 50% shares of the Lorenzini Terminal in Livorno already owned by the company, according to Splash247. Wan Hai Lines plans to invest $1.54 billion in capex in 2023 to boost its international competitiveness among carriers. The investment includes taking delivery of 173,500 TEU of new capacity, including ten 13,100-TEU vessels expected to arrive this year. Also investing in containerships is Taiwan’s largest carrier, Evergreen. The carrier received its third 24,000-TEU container ship, ‘Ever Acme’, four months ahead of schedule. The first two ships, ‘Ever A lot’ and ‘Ever Aria’, were received in June and September 2022, respectively. Maersk is investing $175 million in a logistics centre in Lin-gang, Shanghai. According to a press release issued by the carrier, the company managed to secure approvals to build the first green and smart flagship logistics centre within the Shanghai Free Trade Zone. Hapag Lloyd has announced the completion of its acquisition deal of a minority stake in the Spinelli Group, one of Italy’s leading terminal and transport operators. Hapag-Lloyd has acquired 49% of the shares while the remaining 51% of the shares in the corporate group remain in the hands of the Spinelli family, said the carrier. Technology NYK, the Japanese shipping company and ship owner, performed a trial of the Starlink satellite communications service provided by Elon Musk's Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) in an attempt to speed ship–shore communications. The trial took place on board one of NYK’s container vessels and demonstrated significantly faster transmission speeds than conventional communications, reported Container News. Other MSC has added three second-hand ships to its fleet, further securing its position as the largest operator of containerships in the world, reported Lloyd’s List. In addition, the company managed to top its Danish competitor, Maersk, regarding schedule reliability. According to Sea Intelligence, MSC’s schedule reliability for November reached 63.4,% while Maersk achieved 61.7% reliability. Evergreen decided to pay Maryland, USA, around $700,000 through a fund to make amends for the damage it indirectly caused to an oyster bed in Chesapeake Bay. The grounding of ‘Ever Forward’ in March last year required dredging a natural habitat for blue crabs and oysters in order to re-float the ship. According to the US Coast Guards, the pilot was writing an email on his mobile phone when the accident happened. The newly appointed chief executive of Maersk, Vincent Clerc, has announced a new leadership team for the company to assist him with his new position as CEO. According to a press release, the new team included Patrick Jany, who remains chief financial officer; Keith Svendsen, head of APM Terminals; and Navneet Kapoor, the chief technology and information officer.