Upgrade To Container Carrier's Asian - South American Sailings

ASIA – SOUTH AMERICA - Safmarine, the container shipping company and slot charterer operated by Maersk Line and reefer specialists Hamburg Süd, has confirmed it will soon be offering its customers additional space on the Asia-East Coast South America (ASAS) service. According to Safmarine’s Liner Executive, Jan Scheck, the company has secured slots on both strings of the service which will operate for the months leading up to the December festive season.

This follows an announcement that the ASAS service will be upgraded to cater for peak season demand. The service will, as of July 2010, be operated by two rotations which have been coordinated in such a way that they provide for the most complete coverage in the Asia – East Coast South America trade with fast transit-times between key port pairs.

“Not only will this new arrangement allow us to offer a new, direct product from/to Da Chan Bay and Ningbo in the Far East and Itajai in East Coast South America, but we also expect certain improvements in schedule reliability and transit times,” said Jan Scheck.

The two port rotations, which will continue until the end of peak season (week 44), before returning to a single string configuration, are as follows:

String One: Nagoya– Yokohama– Pusan– Shanghai– Hong Kong – Tanjung Pelepas – Singapore–Sepetiba – Santos– Buenos Aires– Rio Grande– Navegantes – Paranagua – Santos– Singapore– Hong Kong – Nagoya. The first sailing Westbound will be the M/V Monte Rosa leaving Singapore on or around the 12th July and Eastbound from Santos the Monte Olivia about the 11th August.

String Two: Shanghai– Ningbo– Da Chan Bay– Hong Kong – Singapore– Tanjung Pelepas – Durban– Santos– Itajai – Port Elizabeth– Durban– Shanghai. First vessel Westbound the M/V Bella also estimated to depart Singapore 12th July with the inaugural Eastbound boxes on the same vessel around the 10th August.

The second string will deploy 10 vessels with an effective capacity of 2100 TEU. South Africa coverage will be transferred from the current ASAS service onto String 2 during this peak loader period with calls in Durban and Port Elizabeth.

Photo:- View from the Bridge of the ‘Monte Olivia’