Maersk Line is planning to add four bunker-saving vessels in February and March to its Asia-Europe network to cope with port congestion and cut pollution, according to a company statement.
"While selected corridors will experience a day or two more transit time, we expect a better service reliability," said the statement. "The addition of four vessels will enable us to incorporate additional buffer time in our schedules."
Maersk said the changes would also save fuel. "In the last 12 months, our bunker costs have more than doubled. The additional vessels and schedule changes complement our other efforts to mitigate fuel costs and reduce the environmental impact of our services," the company said.
"We had originally planned to add 17 per cent more capacity to the Asia-Europe trade during 2008. The above necessary measures substantiate a 5 per cent reduction thus rounding off our overall capacity increase to approximately 12 per cent," the company said. |
