North Europe to Far East Asia AE1 - AE55 Service

We are continuously striving to improve our cargo delivery, despite operating in a very challenging environment. The supply chain bottlenecks are global and we see pockets of improvements only to see new set-backs shortly thereafter. If any of our vessels are even just a few days delayed on its port rotation, the ripple effects start. Catching-up a 5-10-hour delay requires hard work from dedicated teams, anything above that with upstream and down-stream impact requires intense commitment from a full organization for weeks, possibly months.

In light of the current bottlenecks faced across the network, we are implementing measures to improve schedule reliability on both the AE1 and AE55 services on the Far East Asia to North Europe network. As a result of the exceptional waiting time and congestion faced in North Europe, Maersk will reduce the number of North European port calls by consolidating the Felixstowe and Rotterdam calls between both the AE1 and AE55. While we realize that this equals fewer calls to North Europe, we believe this to be the best course of action to mitigate the full disruption across the network. This plan has been formed together with our partners and with our customers at the front of our minds.

As a first measure, Maersk will consolidate the AE1 Felixstowe port call with the AE55, shifting to and extending the port stay on the latter service to accommodate volumes from the previous AE1 call. Subsequently, we will shift the Rotterdam port call from the AE55 to the AE1 to target a leaner rotation on both services with the aim of improving transit times.

In addition to these measures, we have targeted a leaner rotation on both services with the aim of improving transit times. Specific for the AE55 service, the port of Yantian will also shift to the AE1 service followed by a drop of both Westbound Singapore and Port Said calls. In addition to what has been previously announced, the AE55 is now also calling Le Havre and Algeciras rather than Antwerp and Port Tangiers, with the two latter now part of the AE6 service.

The integrity of our products remains principal when serving our customer and we do believe by making these rotations leaner, we will mitigate delays into North European terminals with a reduced transit time into both Rotterdam and Bremerhaven. It is paramount that we continue to serve our customers to the best of our ability, and we will seek to implement new measures and alternative routings that ensures full cargo coverage between both the impacted services.

AE1

• Current Rotation: Ningbo – Shanghai – Xiamen – Tanjung Pelepas – Felixstowe – Rotterdam – Bremerhaven – Port Tangiers- Salalah – Hong Kong
• Revised Rotation: Ningbo – Xiamen – Yantian – Tanjung Pelepas – Rotterdam – Bremerhaven – Rotterdam – Port Tangiers – Salalah – Hong Kong

AE55

• Current Rotation: Shanghai – Ningbo – Yantian – Singapore – Tanjung Pelepas – Port Said – Rotterdam – Antwerp – Felixstowe – Rotterdam – Port Tangiers - Singapore
• Revised Rotation: Shanghai – Ningbo – Tanjung Pelepas – Felixstowe – Le Havre - Algeciras – Singapore

The specific sailings departing from origin are as per follows:

AE1

AE55

As the situation evolves daily, we are working closely with all involved stakeholders in the local supply chain to help mitigate the situation. Please note that these measures are intended to be temporary and ongoing contingency plans will always be made with the objective of minimizing supply chain delays and alleviating the impact on our customers’ businesses.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. We look forward to continuing working with you in the future. In case of any questions, please contact your local customer service or sales representatives.