Maersk to launch dedicated coastal service in New Zealand
Maersk is launching a new dedicated New Zealand coastal service – “Maersk Coastal Connect”, to enable a more resilient New Zealand supply chain and improve vessel schedule reliability.
The first of its kind for Maersk in its 25 years of operational history in the country, this service will help enhance domestic connection and offer sustainable and flexible supply chain solutions for importers, exporters and domestic distributors.
By deploying two 2,500 Twenty-foot equivalent unit (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 the 12th of July 2022.
The service will be operated with New Zealand crew to support the local community and ensure continued to investment 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,” Managing Director of Maersk Oceania, Henrik Jensen said.
“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 4 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.”
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.
“With Sea freight being the most environmental-friendly mode of transportation, it has a significant potential to reduce CO2 emissions,” Head of Market, Maersk Oceania, My Therese Blank said.
“Based on GLEC methodology to calculate the representative cargo volumes, Maersk Coastal Connect is estimated to enable fortythree thousand tonnes of CO2 savings per year compared to landside trucking service, contributing to Maersk’s 2030 targets for significant absolute emissions reductions.”
The additional investment of a dedicated New Zealand coastal service, in conjunction with recent announcement to build a cold chain facility in Hamilton, will create huge value for customers in the New Zealand market.
Maersk’s expanded local product portfolios in coastal shipping, warehousing, cold chain solutions, landside delivery and value-added services will connect New Zealand in new ways and enhance the overall product offering in the country, to further connect and simplify customers supply chains and provide integrated and flexible solutions.