Maersk appoints John Wetherell to head its global airfreight forwarding
Maersk has appointed John Wetherell (above) as its global head of airfreight forwarding. It is ...
Photo: PSA Mumbai
Maersk has implemented a flurry of port call changes as its ships take longer voyages around southern Africa in the wake of the Red Sea crisis.
On the Indian leg, the rejigging has also meant some terminal changes, with the potential to drive market share swings among private terminal operators or concessionaires at Nhava Sheva port.
The Danish carrier has called off a long-term berthing window deal with PSA Mumbai, also known as Bharat Mumbai Container Terminals (BMCT), to shift weekly calls on its ME2 (India-Mediterranean) service to nearby APMT’s Gateway Terminals India (GTI).
The terminal reshuffle took effect this week and all inland container depot bookings on the ME2 for Indian customers have been put on hold, until necessary system updates are in place.
“We are in the process of updating all the relevant systems for this terminal change and therefore the ME2 vessels are not available currently on Maersk.com for bookings/amendments,” explained the carrier.
The move follows Maersk axing ME2’s westbound calls at Salalah and Jeddah until further notice and the service now rotates Jebel Ali, Mundra, Nhava Sheva, Port Tangier, Algeciras, Salalah, Jebel Ali.
Maersk told customers: “To minimise any disruption to your business, the ports of Algeciras and Tangier will be used for onward connections to northern Europe and the Mediterranean.”
The last westbound sailing from Salalah was scheduled for 4 February, and the carrier said its other networks out of Salalah and Jebel Ali would serve throughout Middle East locations.
Last month, Maersk also announced a raft of network changes for Middle East trades moving to/from the Mediterranean/Red Sea region.
Losing the ME2 call is a major blow for PSA, as the weekly string was one of the first high-volume regular liner customers for the terminal after it began Phase I operations in 2018.
To amplify the commercial impact for PSA Mumbai, the ME2 deploys large vessels, in the range of 10,000 teu, and each call at Nhava Sheva accounted for some 5,000 teu moves (exports/imports), according to sources.
Additionally, the terminal change comes as PSA prepares to launch BMCT’s Phase II operations – at the end of the year, or early 2025 – boosting combined capacity to 4.8m teu annually.
PSA Mumbai/BMCT saw 2m teu in 2023, an impressive 30% increase year on year. The Singapore-based terminal operator noted: “PSA Mumbai’s connectivity via major highways, rail networks and a dedicated rail freight corridor has enabled efficient transport to key markets in India, making it the country’s largest and premier container gateway.”
Meanwhile, an APMT Mumbai source told The Loadstar: “With new crane deployments, we now have the capacity to accommodate more services.”
Maersk also hosts a few weekly sailings out of DP World Nhava Sheva, and it remains to be seen if the carrier will continue this consolidation at its group unit, APMT Mumbai.
Reflecting the Red Sea impact, the terminal reported some volume setbacks last month: 148,007 teu, compared with 184,282 teu in December. However, it continues to lead the intra-port traffic growth at Nhava Sheva -– a 24% gain in the first 10 months of fiscal year 2023-24 (April-January), according to port data.
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