By Mike Wackett

(The Loadstar) – Maersk Line is switching a second Asia-North Europe loop vessel to London Gateway this week after issues over ship and landside congestion at Felixstowe.

And with the Chinese New Year vacation looming, shippers can count on significantly extra disruption to produce chains as ocean carriers endeavour to beat the impression of three weeks of decreased bookings.

“Due to the forecasted weather towards next weekend and congestion at the port of Felixstowe, we have arranged to divert the Maersk Kolkata (96W/1606) to London Gateway,” Maersk mentioned in a buyer advisory on Friday.

The 6,252 teu vessel is deployed on the service’s AE1 service, which it operates with its 2M alliance accomplice MSC. According to native sources the ship will discharge 1,400 containers in a 24-hour over the weekend.

It can be Maersk Line’s second Asia-Europe ship to be diverted from Felixstowe to the DP World facility. The 8,850 teu Maersk Lavras sailed from London Gateway this morning, having discharged round 2,250 containers of Asian imports.

One agent instructed The Loadstar that there have been no reported delays in amassing Maersk Lavras containers, suggesting that the early choice to divert the ship had allowed adequate time for communications between stakeholders.

Elsewhere, shippers are set to face some difficult weeks as Asia-North Europe carriers cancel a sequence of sailings to mitigate the anticipated low demand over the CNY vacation, which begins on 8 February.

Both the G6 alliance members and Maersk Line, on behalf of the 2M, have revealed a listing of blanked sailings throughout weeks 6, 7 and eight, along with ‘contingency’ plans for bookings already made for the voided voyages.

It is probably going that Asian shippers to North Europe will see rising numbers of containers transhipped in the course of the vacation, not solely extending transit instances however including to the danger of containers remaining on the quayside at a approach port.

Over the previous 12 months, shippers have grumbled to The Loadstar that the formation of 4 main east-west alliances meant it had develop into harder to trace container actions.

Privately, one alliance service mentioned just lately that the usual of operational communication from a few of their alliance companions “left a lot to be desired”.

Meanwhile, it’s fascinating to notice that Maersk Line’s CNY contingency plans embrace various “inducement” calls at North European ports, together with: Southampton, Hamburg, Wilhelmshaven and Le Havre.

The phrase is extra generally to be present in transport regarding the tramp market somewhat than liner companies, and shippers reserving cargo for an inducement port are unlikely to obtain affirmation that their containers can be shipped on to their nominated vacation spot till the latter phases of ship planning.

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